The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. 3
by DigimonDragongirl
Summary: Gobrianna's been a Pokemon trainer for five years now, and she is about to fulfill her destiny. . . .
1. It is Time

The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. III  
  
Destiny Fulfilled  
  
Chapter One: It is Time  
  
By Shelli-Jo Pelletier  
  
***************  
  
The wind whistled hollowly through the trees, causing Kimaera to shiver with cold. Lantom noticed and pulled her closer, tugging off his thick winter cloak and wrapping it around his little sister. She snuggled into the soggy, scratchy fabric as if it were made of the finest silk, causing him to smile. "You stay here, Kima," the young man whispered. "I'll go see if I can find some shelter before the storm breaks."  
  
Kima's dark blue eyes clouded over with worry. "But Lan, I can help look too!" she protested loudly. "Let me come! Please?"  
  
"Shh!" her older brother warned. He covered her mouth with his big, gentle hand. "I told you we have to be quiet in this forest."  
  
She sniffed, tears threatening, but obediently lowered her youthful voice. "I don't want to be alone here, Lan," whimpered the girl, her lower lip quivering.  
  
"Hey," he grinned lightly. "You're the only daughter of the third wife of King Lo'nem. You can handle a few measly little trees, can't you?" He ruffled her lavender hair affectionately.  
  
Put in this light, the eight-year-old could hardly object. So she bravely fought back her tears and put on the best smile she could as she nodded. "Hurry back then, big brother. I'll miss you."  
  
Lan stood up, relieved that it hadn't taken more to placate her. He removed a leather thong from around his neck and tied back his unruly olive- colored hair, not wanting the mane to fall into his eyes in this forest. He knew there were . . . things in here. Creatures that hunted by tracking movement, that would rather choose a mobile target over prey that remained motionless. And he wanted to see them before they saw him.  
  
He glanced down to send one last reassuring smile his sister's way before drawing his short sword and striding out into the dense trees. He had to find better shelter before the storm hit. Maybe a cave, with an single entrance he could guard, or—  
  
"LAN!" The scream tore through the stillness of the silent forest, rising above the whisper of the wind in the trees. The young man wheeled and leaped back the way he had come in one fluid movement. Kima! No!  
  
In an instant the dark trunks before him parted, revealing a scene that made his stomach lurch and his heart pound fast. A giant, winged snake hung suspended over his little sister, it's dark hood spread wide and jaws unhinged, exposing fangs as long as his arm and dripping some noxious fluid. Another scream irrupted from the young girl's throat. The creature hissed, flicked forth a forked tongue.  
  
"HEY!" Lan yelled as loudly as he could, waving his sword in the air frantically. The black-scaled abomination's head whipped in his direction, seemed to grin evilly as its burning eyes flickered with intense intelligence. Surprised, Lan had just enough time to realize that it had set this trap: waited to separate its prey, then choosing the weaker target, before the creature let loose a high-pitched shriek that made both humans cover their ears in pain. Taking advantage of his momentary weakness, the serpent lunged at the unprotected young man. Its fanged maw stretched wide in anticipation of its next victim. Lan struggled to bring his sword up, feeling that it was already too late—  
  
"Hey, Bri!"  
  
Gobrianna shrieked in surprise, the hardcover novel flying from her fingers and sailing through the air. It hit the wall with a rather loud bam, echoing in the mostly empty room. The Pokemon trainer's head snapped up as she looked for the person who had abruptly called her back to reality. Not that she didn't know who it was; only one person ever called her "Bri."  
  
"Geesh, Blu, give a girl a heart attack!" she groused, putting a hand over her heaving chest. Her other smoothed the straight copper-colored hair out of her turquoise eyes. She took a slow, deep breath to clear the last dregs of the story from her mind before turning her attention to her visitor. Blu was dressed in her usual sapphire-colored outfit, grinning in response to her friend's exclamation. She hitched herself up on the corner of the desk that sat in the middle of the room and shot a mischievous look at Gobrianna over her pair of triangular shades.  
  
"I wouldn't do that!" Blu protested innocently, her grin stretching wider. "Who would I have to laugh with when some wimpy trainer who thinks he can beat us comes to challenge the best of the OPL?" The fifteen-year- old flipped a strand of azure hair out of her face and indicated the recently airborne object lying on the floor across the room. "Hey Miller, would you go get Bri's book, please?"  
  
There was a sharp bark of assent from in front of the desk, below Gobrianna's line of sight. Miller trotted across the room as its trainer had asked, its nine cerulean tails swaying back and forth behind it. The Pokemon gently took the fallen novel in its jaws and returned, circling around the desk and offering it back to its owner.  
  
"Thank you, Miller." Gobrianna smiled, scratching the bright blue Ninetales behind the ears as she accepted the book. Miller never ceased to amaze her. Color variations were not unheard of among Pokemon, but they were pretty uncommon. And they always fascinated Gobrianna (her own Charizard had a rather unusual mark on its snout, which had first piqued her curiosity on the subject). It had been her investigation into exactly what produced color variations in newborn Pokemon three years ago that had led to her first meeting with Blu, at a Pokemon convention held in Saffron City. Miller had been on display that day, and Gobrianna couldn't resist the opportunity to question its trainer. The two girls had hit it off immediately.  
  
Finding the page in the novel she had been on, Gobrianna slipped in a bookmark before setting it on the corner of her desk. (The only other adornment of the tabletop was an Arbok-shaped picture frame displaying the smiling faces of a family of three . . . and Blu at the moment.) Finally she returned her gaze to her visitor. "So, what brings the grand and noble leader of the magnificent, adored, wondrous, unbelievably successful OPL to the humble Fantasy Gym?" she asked Blu as the Ninetales returned to its trainer's side.  
  
The blue-clad Pokemon trainer playfully struck a dramatic pose at her friend's words. Their give-and-take banter was the result of three good years of solid friendship. They had helped each other out of tough spots in the past, and had actually started the OPL together, which was why they were the two highest members of the Elite Four. Others had joined this new League in time, but no one really got that close to Gobrianna, who was something of a loner. Blu was her closet human friend.  
  
The girl adjusted her black shades as the mischievous look faded, her face going rigid and formal. But Gobrianna could hear the barely contained torrent of snickers in her voice. "Now Bri," she scolded, "the OPL is a serious business, and it's all we have. As members of the Elite Four for this League, we have to set an example. I won't have you making fun of it."  
  
"Yes, ma'am!" Gobrianna saluted smartly. Blu couldn't help it; her solemn mask cracked and a chuckle slipped out.  
  
"Right. Don't you forget it. Anyway, Miller and I came to tell you of a small rumor we heard from one of the first Gym leaders. We knew you'd want to know right away."  
  
She cocked her head, intrigued despite herself and not having the faintest idea what her friend was talking about. "Oh really? And what's that?"  
  
Blu leaned forward to bring their heads inches apart as she whispered confidentially, "There's a brown-haired, blue-eyed challenger with glasses making his way through our League pretty quickly. He says his name's Daniel."  
  
Gobrianna jerked back in her chair in shock. She wouldn't have been more surprised if Blu had announced that Lance himself was challenging the OPL. "Daniel?" she gasped. "The boy I told you I met five years ago?" At her friend's ecstatic nod she blinked, perplexed, and then slowly shook her head in awe. "Daniel," she murmured again. "Wow. I wonder how much he's changed in five years?"  
  
Blu opened her mouth (from the look on her face she was about to start ribbing her friend about love at first sight) when there was a loud, wooden creak as the double-doors at the front of the building were pushed open. Gobrianna's Gym was large and mostly empty; noises had a tendency to be amplified. The Gym leader usually caught the sound of the front doors opening, surprising visitors by knowing they were coming.  
  
Both girls and the Ninetales turned expectantly toward the wide doorway that connected the front hall with the room that they were in. Soon a dark shadow slithered across the red-carpeted floor. The serpentine creature lifted its smooth head up and locked the black orbs of its eyes on the trio. The round blue bulb under its chin gleamed and it wiggled the wing-like ears on either side of its head.  
  
"Ripley!" Blu called to her Dragonair. "What are you doing here?" The dragon Pokemon glided across the floor until it stopped before the girl. There was a brief conversation—trainer to trainee—and then Blu let out an exasperated sigh, her eyes rolling heavenward behind her shades.  
  
She turned to Gobrianna with an apologetic grin. "Sorry, Bri, but I won't be able to go into details. Gotta run. Leading the OPL isn't all fun and games, as much as we'd like to believe otherwise." The blue-haired girl hopped off the desk and stretched. "Come on Miller, Ripley. I'm going to need you two to handle this." Her two Pokemon trailed behind her as she strode for the doorway. Just before the dark shadows of the hall swallowed her, Blu turned back toward her friend. "Hey, Bri."  
  
Gobrianna had already been reaching for her novel. Her hand hovered above the hardcover. "Yeah?"  
  
The fifteen-year-old's playful grin was back. "You'd better start training. This Daniel fellow is going to get here pretty quick, and if he gets by you, I'm going to have to think you're going easy on him." Her eyebrows quirked roguishly; Gobrianna braced herself. "And I promise you that your boyfriend won't get by me so easily."  
  
She got her desired response immediately. "BLU!" cried Gobrianna. In retaliation her hand snatched up the book and in an instant it was sailing across the room once again. Blu laughed and ducked into the darkened hallway with her two Pokemon as the novel crashed harmlessly into the wall and slid to the floor. In another moment there was the creak of the front doors opening again, then silence settled over the Fantasy Gym.  
  
"That girl," the Gym leader muttered darkly, and a moment later broke into a round of chuckles. She couldn't help it. Spend one day with a boy and you're marked for life, she thought. I'm never going to hear the end of this! Oh well, guess I was asking for it when I told her to begin with.  
  
Gobrianna stood up and stretched as Blu had, hearing her back crick. She really had been sitting at that desk too long. Crossing the room to retrieve her book, the sixteen-year-old was suddenly aware of a little pang of loneliness. Blu had the tendency to do that to people. She was so full of energy! The girl was always going somewhere, always doing something. When she burst into a room her liveliness was contagious, everyone automatically got caught up in her whirlwind of activity. And when she left, the vivacity that crackled in the air followed her right out the door (some were glad for a chance to catch their breath). In contrast, Gobrianna was more of a slow and steady person. Her energetic friend could both delight and frustrate her with her never-ending enthusiasm.  
  
But the feeling wasn't entirely Blu's fault, either. Gobrianna was, to put it quite plainly, bored with life. Oh, there was nothing she could complain about, really. She had the love of friends and family, her own Gym, a high standing as the second of the Elite Four in a successful Pokemon League. Neither she nor her mother would ever have to worry about money problems again. But Gobrianna still missed the open road. Her Pokemon journey had ended three years ago, when she was thirteen and had met Blu. It hadn't taken them long to decide on becoming business partners, and opening up the OPL soon followed.  
  
This feeling that persisted to eat away at her wasn't the restlessness that had plagued the girl since she was ten years old. It wasn't the feeling of isolation, that she was strange, different. It certainly wasn't the Eight, influencing her intuition and emotions. As a matter of fact, she hadn't felt anything from them in almost three years, ever since the OPL first opened. No, this was something much more mundane.  
  
Impatience. That was it, Gobrianna decided upon reflection. She couldn't take this anymore. Sitting around, day after day, attending meetings and training Pokemon and accepting challenges. While in the back of her mind, every waking hour, a little voice was saying, Today was another day you didn't do it. You didn't bring fantasy back to the world, and you didn't save the Eight. She had come to hate that little voice. For three long years she had accomplished nothing toward her goal; her destiny remained unfulfilled. How much longer would she have to wait? Had the Eight left her for good? Why wouldn't they come to her?  
  
The Pokemon trainer heaved a sigh, staring down at the book in her hands. She still read these fantasy novels with the same passion as she had all her life. The Fantasy Gym's library was so large it took up the entire second floor of the building. As her turquoise eyes fastened on the image of the great black snake with wings spread wide, the engraved words Second Chances in an arch over the picture, she realized her spark of loneliness had deepened to discouragement. It tugged at her heart painfully. That's what you get for feeling sorry for yourself, she told herself miserably. Man, do I need a vacation.  
  
Gobrianna tipped her head, thinking, then nodded to herself decisively. Being lonely was one thing a Pokemon trainer never had to deal with for very long. Setting the novel back on her desk, she headed for the small, unadorned door set into the corner of the back wall. Here she stopped again, looking back at the room. A flicker of pride ran up her spine and at what she saw, chasing away her gloom for a moment.  
  
The entrance to the hall that Blu had disappeared down moments before (large enough to allow a Snorlax to enter, if it ever got up off its rump) was set in the center of the wall across from her. Above it hung two giant paintings, each at least eight by eight feet large. Six others covered the other walls, two on each, including two above her very head.  
  
The artist was an old man by the name of Austin Gray. She had found him two years ago, after having been told he was the very best at what he did. He had been retired, but when she had explained to him what she wanted, described the eight portraits she needed done in as much detail as she could, his old brown eyes had lit up with such passion she hadn't been able to hold back her broad smile of joy. Austin had pulled out his canvas and oil paints that very day. A week later he had appeared at Gobrianna's doorstep, thin and haggard as if he hadn't slept for days, but his face showed pure elation as he announced his masterpieces complete and that he was donating them to her Gym. The day after that she had seen him on a television special. He was proclaiming his retirement had been much too premature.  
  
Now the eight giant paintings gazed down at her with such life and realism it simply took her breath away. On the wall across from her a lion of silver fur and full white mane snarled majestically, frozen in time, its silver wings spread wide. The other painting showed a large gray wolf with eyes of green and gold, head raised to sniff the wind for danger.  
  
To her left a light gray gryphon's wings were stretched in flight. It foreparts were that of an eagle, with a sharp beak opened in a silent scream of freedom and eagle's wings, while the hind legs and tail were a lion's. A bird with feathers of silver flame was depicted next to it. This phoenix perched on nothing, wings folded, (no backgrounds in any of the paintings to take the focus away from the remarkable creatures) and the flames that made up its body seemed to crackle and dance in the dim light as if the amazing bird really stood in the room.  
  
On her right one painting displayed a winged horse serenely gazing outward with calm blue eyes, silvery white wings folded over its slender back. The other was a dark gray dragon with no forelegs, a wyvern. It was diving out of the unseen sky, wings plastered tightly to its sides, its blazing blue eyes locked on something below that only it could see.  
  
And above Gobrianna, though she couldn't see them from her position, the images of the two creatures that visitors first laid eyes on upon entering the room flared in her mind. A silver dragon stood proudly, nobly, its eyes of fire devouring the being that dared gaze into them with a knowledge that defied mortality. And a rearing unicorn, the color of sea foam with eyes as deep and blue as the ocean, was portrayed beside it. Its spiral horn gleamed with a pure, silver light.  
  
Gobrianna's face allowed a small smile before her loneliness reclaimed her. Other than the eight paintings, the desk and the dark red carpet underfoot were the only decorations in the room. The Pokemon trainer was suddenly struck by a thought: this room symbolized her life now. It was simple and modest, but overlooked by a beauty and mystery so strong it was impossible to concentrate on anything else. That was exactly how the girl felt. She took one last look, then wrapped her left hand around the walking stick that leaned against the wall in the corner (she was never seen without it) and turned the knob.  
  
The hall beyond the plain door was dark and cool. Gobrianna kept the lights in her Gym down low, to add to the air of mystery that she loved to create. This was the personal part of her home, the part Pokemon challengers rarely saw. Doors that led to the kitchen, rec. room, bathroom, her bedroom, guestrooms, and others appeared and were swallowed just as abruptly by the darkness as she passed by, along with the grand marble and wooden staircase that led to the second floor. Her staff made repetitive dull raps on the wooden floor as she wove her way down the hall. With quick, sure steps she soon approached the back door.  
  
Gobrianna had to squint as she opened the door and sunlight flooded the narrow hallway. She held up her free hand to shade her eyes until they adjusted to the harsh sunshine. Eventually her broad backyard came into focus. Beyond a long swimming pool spread an open field, separated by a line of trees tipped with early-autumn orange. And Pokemon populated the peaceful scene: the answer to her loneliness.  
  
"Char?" Up lumbered a massive orange lizard, carefully skirting the pool in a wide curve, its tail held high and proud. It was most obviously master of its domain. Seeing her troubled expression, it nuzzled her shoulder affectionately, causing Gobrianna's face to break into a huge smile. Her gloomy thoughts again receded for a little while as she felt the love of and for her trainees flood her being.  
  
Gobrianna wrapped her arms around the Pokemon briefly. "Good, now that I'm here with my Pokemon. And you, Charizard?" she asked.  
  
The winged lizard shrugged its large shoulders. "Char," it replied, its flaming tail swishing. It turned its head to look back at the pool and snarled in disgust. "Izard, char. Char charizard."  
  
Its trainer laughed, glad her spirits were lifted. "Are we going to have this conversation every day? I'm sorry, Charizard. I know you don't like the pool, but its here for the water Pokemon, and it's going to stay." A Lapras floating gently in the water nodded appreciatively.  
  
Charizard snorted, but let the matter drop. Falling into step beside its trainer, it followed her past the pool and through the tree line, where a Mankey was sleeping on an overhead branch next to a Butterfree. In the field a Rapidash spotted its trainer and trotted up with a nicker of welcome. Gobrianna scratched its flaming forehead below its horn, the fire sending a tingle through her hand but no pain from a burn. She wanted to see her Pokemon happy, or she was afraid the despairing feelings would return to harass her. "Run," she whispered into its silken ear. With a spirited neigh it kicked up its heels and dashed away, racing the wind. Gobrianna watched it run and felt her soul galloping along with it.  
  
Her fire lizard brought her back to herself with a hearty thump of its wing on her back. She grinned as she turned to look it in the eye, but suddenly all the effort she put into keeping her emotions at bay went up in smoke as she broke down and slumped against her Pokemon's shoulder. "I dunno, Charizard," the trainer sighed. "I've been waiting for so long. Do you think the Eight still need us? Ever since we first met them, the times they've called us to their realm I could count on one hand. But it's been three years! Wha . . . what if no one believes in fantasy anymore? What if they don't have the strength to come to me?" She swallowed heavily. "Or, what if . . . I did something? Something wrong? What if they don't want me anymore?" she whispered.  
  
"Char," rumbled her first Pokemon sympathetically, wrapping its wing around her. "Char charizard char. Zard char!"  
  
Gobrianna looked up, blinking rapidly. "Yeah," she mumbled. "You're right, of course." She gave a small laugh, a bitter sound. "It's not like they have another choice. It's me or nothing."  
  
Charizard shook its head. That wasn't what it meant! "Charizard, izard char!"  
  
She chuckled weakly. "Yes, I am feeling sorry for myself again. Sorry." She took a deep breath. "Accepting challenges all day may not be leading me any further toward my dreams, but at least I'm helping other challengers achieve theirs. And founding a Pokemon League is nothing to sneeze at!" Her laugh lost its bitterness this time around. "When the Eight told me to make myself part of the OPL, I didn't know they meant I had to create it myself! Well, with Blu anyway. Thank God for Blu. I had no idea how to start something as complicated as a single Gym, let alone a League! I guess I just have to learn a little patience. Thank you, Charizard."  
  
The upright lizard nodded, satisfied. This was not the first time its trainer had turned to it for council, nor would it be the last. Five years ago—a lifetime to a Pokemon—the Eight had told Charizard that Gobrianna would only be able to put her trust in six Chosen Pokemon, and that itself was the first of these six. The fire Pokemon even wore their mark, a silver spot on the end of its snout, and it wore it with pride. Whenever its trainer needed it, it would always be there for her.  
  
A cold shadow unexpectedly chose that moment to fall across the sun, darkening the entire field as a cool breeze stirred the leaves of the trees and the tall grass at their feet. Gobrianna looked up. "A storm?" she wondered aloud, before realizing that the sun still shone brightly. But that light wasn't falling on the field behind the Fantasy Gym, almost as if a wall of darkness had sprang up, separating the outside world from where she stood with her Pokemon. The breeze increased into a strong wind, whipping her long hair about her.  
  
Until the staff began to quiver in her hand, the Pokemon trainer had no idea what was going on. Of course, she wasn't as in shock as some people might have been, having had some experience with strange occurrences. But as the slight tremble traveled the length of the golden wood, tickling the palm of her hand, recognition dawned on Gobrianna. Her face lit up with awe and exhilaration, even as she dared wonder if it was really happening.  
  
The Eight were coming for her! Finally, as if they had been called by her very thoughts (though it wasn't the first time these thoughts had surfaced, not by far), they had returned! Her heart filled to the brim with excitement. She knew she was ready. "Talk about coincidences," muttered Gobrianna, her words stolen away by the now-savage wind. She rose her voice to be heard above the gale. "Stand close to me, Charizard!" Her own hair twirled around her face, blinding her until she could see nothing, keeping her from discovering if her Pokemon had heard and obeyed or not.  
  
Then all was darkness.  
  
* * *  
  
"You have kept the staff and the necklace with you. This is good." Gobrianna almost failed to be shocked by the immense voice, the voice that was somehow neither female nor male and many voices merged and mingled into one. Almost. Even though she had been expecting it, the voice of the Eight was a large and powerful force. It was difficult not to be swayed by it. When the eight large creatures—she came up to the shoulders of the smallest one—appeared out of the blackness without warning, as they always did, she bowed her head briefly in respect. The trainer sensed movement beside her as Charizard, Chosen of the Pokemon, mirrored her action.  
  
"Greeting, Chosen," they spoke to her motionlessly. Though the years had seemed agonizingly long, the eight creatures appeared exactly as they had the first time she had met them. Her head swiveled as she looked around the circle of mythical beasts that encompassed her, meeting each in their multicolored eyes: The dragon, the unicorn, the phoenix, the gryphon, the winged lion, the giant wolf, the wyvern and the winged horse. The Eight.  
  
"Greetings," she replied. "It has been a long time since we last met."  
  
As always, the dragon and the unicorn seemed to be the ones to speak to her, though they made no move to support the impression. "You can take care of yourself, Chosen. You do not need us to be with you every step of your journey."  
  
"True," she agreed, "but I was worried that the world had changed so much that fantasy was no longer strong enough to contact me, even with the help of the staff." Her hand tightened around the wooden pole in her grip until the knuckles whited, revealing just how worried she had really been. Knowing from experience that the Eight were direct, and expected her to respond in kind, she immediately got to the point. "Three years ago I ended my Pokemon journey. I created my own Pokemon League, the OPL, and I found the six Chosen Pokemon that make up my team. I have done what you asked of me. I'm ready to bring fantasy back to my world, to save you. I'm ready for my destiny."  
  
Finishing her small speech, the girl waited for their response expectantly. She didn't have to wait for long. "Are you now?" they answered, amused. Mirth shone in the fire and water eyes of the dragon and the unicorn before her. Gobrianna's brow crashed together, but she stood her ground at their tone, refusing to look away from their intense gaze. She had to prove to them that she believed what she said. The beings seemed to sigh noiselessly. "We know you are weary of waiting, Chosen. We know you yearn to do as we wish, for us as well as for your world, but you are young yet. The path ahead will not be a smooth one. A being with more experience, more knowledge and more years than you may very well fail. You can accomplish your destiny, but only when you are ready."  
  
Gobrianna's shoulders slumped. She was ready, she was! Why could the Eight not see that? She had been waiting for years—literally—ever since she was sure the OPL was a success and the last of the Chosen Pokemon, Lapras, had found her. She had trained with them diligently; they trusted her and she them. How much longer did she have to wait?  
  
The sixteen-year-old straightened, held her head high. The Eight would not see their Chosen pouting like a child. She struggled to keep the impatience out of her voice, but sensed that they could hear it anyway. "Then why have you contacted me, if I'm not ready? It's been three years; you must have a reason. You always do."  
  
Again that motionless, silent sigh. Then, in a sudden swift movement, she felt the eight pairs of eyes lock onto her. Those eyes, eyes of every color, shape and size, devoured her, penetrated her being, stared into her very soul. A soft gasp escaped her lips as those stares plunged inside her. All the shameful and weak things she had ever done were suddenly open to them to read like the novels she enjoyed so much. They knew everything about her, everything thought and action. They had made her, created her just as much as her parents had. She stood still in the middle of that circle of powerful beings, knowing they were judging her, and could only wait for what their verdict would be. The silent communication they used amongst themselves flowed over her as they conversed with one another. About what, she could only guess.  
  
Finally their concentrated stares eased from her body, and Gobrianna felt a strange pressure in her chest that she hadn't noticed melt away in response. Whatever they had been looking for, the Eight had found it. She could see it in their inhuman eyes. The dragon and the unicorn spoke again, and she heard the very real regret in their voice. "We have no choice, Chosen. The Darkness has increased the intensity of its attacks. It does not matter that we feel you still need time, the Darkness believes you could defeat their plan now. And to ensure that this will not happen, we feel they will begin their greatest attack at any time."  
  
Gobrianna gulped. Her first, last and only meeting with the Darkness had been one time too many. The power behind that force was unbelievable, perhaps even stronger than the Eight, because the Darkness would not hesitate to do anything—hurt anyone—to get what it wanted. She knew this first-hand. "W-will they try to take me again?" she whispered, aware of the tremor in her voice. Her free hand gripped the silver necklace hanging around her neck for comfort, and she felt Charizard sidle toward her (careful to keep its burning tail away from her clothes).  
  
The Eights' many eyes looked troubled, which did nothing to slow her rapidly quickening heartbeat. "The Darkness knows you have called to us in the past. You could do so again, and because you are one of the few who still believe in us, we can protect you. But out strength is diminishing. It is a dangerous time to fulfill your destiny, but it would be more dangerous not to leave now." Gobrianna heard a gravity in their voice that she never had before, almost bordering on desperation. It struck her that the Eight hadn't just been overprotective or underestimating her abilities. They had much more power and knowledge than she could ever imagine, and they really didn't think she was ready. That probably meant she wasn't. Could she prove them wrong? Could she really do what fantasy itself doubted she could?  
  
Well, she didn't have much choice. She would have to, or her world was done for.  
  
Filled with this last thought, Gobrianna drew on the feeling of determination it created in her to fuel her words. "Then we can't wait until you think I'm ready. You have to send me now, or the Darkness will strike and we won't be in a position to stop it. Tell me what I need to know, and I'll go."  
  
The eight silver creatures nodded as one. "You speak the truth, Chosen. We must return you with the knowledge you need, and it must be now. Listen to our words well. To bring fantasy back to your world there is someone you must find. He is—"  
  
Something happened that interrupted the strong, grave voice of the creatures, something that Gobrianna couldn't understand. For the first time in her life, she witnessed the Eight in panic. Their colorful eyes widened in fear, and the beings that had never made more than a slight movement in all the time she knew of them suddenly came to life. The unicorn reared on its hind legs just like in Austin Gray's painting, trumpeting in a voice like a bronze church bell. The beings with wings opened them wide and beat the air, creating a hot dry wind that blew through the dark realm. Each creature opened its jaws, emitting an ear-splitting cry. The giant wolf bayed like a creature straight from Hell. The lion roared, the phoenix screamed, the wyvern hissed. A column of fire that would have put an Arcanine to shame sprang from the dragon's mouth, aimed into the darkness above their heads.  
  
The sight had frozen Gobrianna's heart into a solid block of terrified ice, even as the flames heated her skin to a nearly unbearable level. She realized that if the dragon hadn't pointed its great inferno upward she would have been very, very dead, killed by the very beings that had made her who she was. She wanted to clap her hands over her ears, anything to banish the unholy clamor that beat hard against her eardrums, but her hands were curled around the two objects the Eight had given her—the staff and the necklace—so stiffly that she couldn't pry them off. Gobrianna wondered what the Eight would do if they accidentally killed her. She suddenly had no doubt that it could happen. Clued in by the dragon's flames, she craned her head back, looking above for the cause of the magnificent beings' alarm.  
  
That was when she saw the Darkness descending.  
  
Gobrianna was instantly reliving the night before her Pokemon journey began, the night she had met the Darkness. It was as it had appeared to her then: a pulsing, writhing blackness that surrounded them all, descending from above. The Eights' plane of existence was pure blackness, but the girl had no trouble distinguishing between the darkness of the realm and the living, moving . . . evil. It seemed to glow with a dark light of its own, illuminating itself in its lightlessness. She screamed, felt her throat vibrating, but could hear no sound over the outcries of the Eight.  
  
The mythological beings stilled in a single instant of silence and began to glow themselves, a silver light that radiated outward and met the sinuous Darkness overhead without faltering. The bright and dark lights clashed with the sound of a thunderclap and the intensity of lightning, momentarily deafening and blinding Gobrianna. A blast of air rushed down on the ten beings below, nearly lifting the girl off her feet. Charizard saw and lunged, wrapping both its arms and wings around her. She leaned against it heavily, not able to return the embrace because of her frozen hands. Her numb mind informed her that she had never felt more terrified in her life. Her heart beat hard and fast against her ribs, her unheard breath gasping like a fish out of water. She could feel her Pokemon's heaving chest against her own. Please let me survive, she prayed. I have to get away from this. I want to live. I really really want to live!  
  
The blast of air became a raging wind, a storm complete with the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning. The two mortals caught in the center shivered against each other, hearing only the sound of the wind, seeing only each other's frightened eyes. The Eight, the Darkness, the black and silver lights were gone to the blinded pair. There were only themselves, the enraged wind that circled them, and the hope that they would make it out alive. Their lives had been taken out of their hands.  
  
Faintly, a small sound came to Gobrianna. Words, but she couldn't make them out. The girl realized with horror that it was the great multi- voice of the Eight, tiny and sounding very far away. The wind of the battling lights had separated the great beasts from their two charges. She strained to make out what they were saying, wondering if they were talking to her. ". . . must . . . back . . . only . . . now. . . ." Then a faint word that she almost grasped, but the meaning slipped away from her fear- filled mind. The rest was lost in the howling gale surrounding them. She wondered how much longer Charizard could hold onto her, and the thought of being torn away from the Pokemon, lost in the unnatural wind forever, was the most horrifying thought yet.  
  
Then there was a soft glow between them. Looking down, Gobrianna was amazed to see a small silver gleam leaking from the fist curled around her necklace. She couldn't loosen her grip—tried, but her fingers refused to respond. But the light strengthened, streaming outward. It enveloped the girl and the Pokemon in its gentle radiance, soothing as a mother's loving arms after a deadly nightmare. She realized she could feel her feet leave the ground of the strange world. They were being lifted out of the darkly whirling wind, above and away from the fighting that she knew was still going on. The battle between the Darkness and the Eight. They had somehow managed to spare the strength to send them back! And while her face was still frozen in horror, her heart still trying to burst from her chest in its palpitations, her mind was just starting to accept that they were going to live.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ow!" she cried as she landed hard on the ground. For a moment her eyes remained closed, she just let herself breathe. Her ears were ringing. But when she realized she could feel soft grass under her she bolted up in shock. "Charizard?" The word poured from her mouth, she knew it did, but she still couldn't hear it. All she could hear was that infernal ringing! When forcing open her blue eyes only revealed an expanse of blinding white nothingness, the stabbing pain made her instinctively want to close them again. But instead she kept them open with sheer will, causing them to water and ache. Eventually the whiteness ebbed away, to be slowly replaced with the familiar grassy field behind her Gym.  
  
And she couldn't see her Pokemon.  
  
"Charizard!" screamed Gobrianna, and was rewarded when she faintly heard her own voice over the ringing in her ears. She was on her knees, and twisted her body around to look behind her. This time her scream was mingled with relief. "Charizard!"  
  
The fire Pokemon bellowed out a groan and flopped over, its eyes closed. Immediately trying to go to it, the girl pushed her hands against the grass to heave herself to her feet. The appendages shot twin stabs of pain up her arms, and as she stumbled over to her Pokemon she looked down at them in a detached manner. Both were red and raw, stiffly cramped, and the left was imprinted with the shape of a starburst. The same shape as the cold metal emblem she could feel hanging around her neck. And both were empty.  
  
"Staff later, Charizard now," she muttered. She heard herself more clearly now, to her vast relief. At least she wasn't permanently deaf from her encounter with that dark evil. A shudder ran under the girl's skin in remembrance.  
  
"Charizard?" she asked more softly, falling to the earth beside it. A hasty check assured her that the flame on the end of its tail was still lit. The massive lizard stirred, shook its horned head from side to side, and slowly opened its eyes.  
  
"C-char?" it rumbled uncertainly.  
  
"We're back," whispered its trainer. "You okay?"  
  
The Pokemon sat up even more slowly. "Char, charizard," it grumbled, rubbing the back of its head, which had apparently landed first. "Zard?"  
  
"I'm fine, but. . . ." Gobrianna cocked her head upward, as if looking for an answer written in the clouds. She frowned unhappily. "But the Eight never got to finish what they were trying to tell us. Who do we have to find? And where?"  
  
The winged Pokemon painstakingly lumbered to its feet. "Izard izard char zard. Charizard zard char," it mumbled helpfully. Then its gaze lifted from her face and looked around. "Charizard!"  
  
But Gobrianna was lost in thought and didn't notice her trainee's exclamation, marveling over what it had just told her. It had heard the last thing that the Eight had managed to tell them, the word she hadn't been able to make out. The Eight wanted her to go to one of the Seafoam Islands!  
  
"What just happened?" pondered the girl. "The Darkness . . . they did try to take me again. Or were they attacking the Eight? But why an attack like this now? The Eight told me the Darkness doesn't directly attack them anymore." She shook her head with a small moan, still seeing that pulsing blackness, the silver creatures alive with movement, the clash of light, the wind. It was too much to think about now. She was alive, and now she knew where she needed to go. That was what she had to focus on.  
  
A round, fuzzy body unexpectedly nuzzled her, startling Gobrianna back to the present. She looked up to find that her free Pokemon had hurried over to discover what had happened to their trainer. The Wigglytuff that had cuddled her bounced back a few feet to look her over, its long ears twitching. When the creatures saw that her eyes were finally upon them, they sent up such an uproar that it made her wince for her still- tender ears.  
  
"Free! Free!"  
  
"Rai!"  
  
"Bell!"  
  
"Bulba!"  
  
"War."  
  
"Chaaaaaaaaarbok!"  
  
"Golem?"  
  
"Vap vaporeon!" The Eevee evolution forced itself through the ring of clamoring animals, shouldering and shoving, and proudly deposited a six- foot long stick of wood before its trainer. The crowd fell silent.  
  
"The staff!" blurted out Gobrianna, snatching it up in delight. "Great job, Vaporeon. Where was it?" The Pokemon shot out a short stream of dialogue that she struggled to follow. "After the storm . . . oh, that. Yes, I guess we were taken by the storm, but we're back now. You found this in the field? Over there? Must have fallen from my hand. . . ."  
  
Gobrianna shook her head, still a little dazed. She wondered briefly if she was in some kind of shock. I should rest, she thought. But first she had to tend to her worried Pokemon.  
  
The girl looked around the assembled creatures and gathered her strength to lend to her voice, firmly announcing, "Thank you for your concern everyone, but I'm fine. Charizard too. Now, I think I just need a nap. And after that there's a really important place I have to be. So we have to get this place ready. Rapidash, you go find Blu and tell her I'll need to talk to her when I'm up. If she's busy, tell one of her Pokemon. Bulbasaur, inform the rest of the Pokemon that I'm going to be leaving soon. Charizard—" She tilted her head to look at it with a grin. "—help me up, please." It complied, and she continued. "The rest of you should prepare for my absence in whatever way you want. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." With that she turned back to the Fantasy Gym and headed for the back door, heavily leaning upon the staff in her hand.  
  
Charizard looked at the circle of its fellow Pokemon and told them to snap to it. The group broke up and dispersed. Soon only Vaporeon stood in the field with the fire lizard. It gazed up at it expectantly. "Vap?"  
  
The winged Pokemon sighed. Vaporeon was another of the six Chosen Pokemon. It did disserve to know what happened. Sitting back on its haunches, Charizard began to explain. 


	2. The Voyage

The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. III  
  
Destiny Fulfilled  
  
Chapter Two: The Voyage  
  
By Shelli-Jo Pelletier  
  
***************  
  
Gobrianna ran over her mental checklist one more time, making sure she hadn't missed anything, as she rubbed her bloodshot eyes. No amount of makeup had been able to hide the redness, or the dark circles. After her short nap the sixteen-year-old had completely forgone sleep for two days, preparing diligently for her departure. At last she thought everything was set. The OPL knew their second-in-command was leaving, a temporary replacement was already in place, her Pokemon lay dormant in their Pokeballs in the vault inside the Gym, she had called her mother and explained she might be unreachable for a while, and she was packed for the journey that was about to make. Gobrianna was ready.  
  
The girl once again stood behind her Gym, surveying the scene before her for anything amiss, adamantly ignoring her exhaustion. There would be plenty of time for sleep as she made her way to the Seafoam Islands; now she had to be absolutely certain that everything was flawless. Finally satisfied, she strode forward to address the small group of Pokemon that waited by the pool.  
  
"All right, we're almost ready to go," the trainer informed her trainees. Six pairs of eyes gazed at her attentively, listening raptly. By the side of the pool Charizard shifted restlessly, its twitching tail kept well away from the water. Beside it a Raichu eagerly bounced on its brown- tipped feet and an Arbok lay curled in the sun, gazing at her lazily. In the pool itself the Lapras bobbed gently with the movements of the water, the Vaporeon sat on its knobbed shell, and a Dewgong paddled quietly. All gazed at Gobrianna with as much confidence as she returned to them.  
  
"You all know where we're going," she resumed. "We'll head for Fuchsia City, and a boat will take us from port to the Seafoam Islands. You know you are the six Chosen Pokemon, and that we're the only hope our world and the Eight have. When we get to the Island I don't know what we'll find, but there's someone there who can make people believe in fantasy again. I don't know why he hasn't already. Maybe he doesn't know how much people have forgotten, or maybe he's hurt and needs our help. Whatever we find, whatever happens, I just want you to know that I trust you. And that I believe you can all do what needs to be done, we can do it. And we will. Right?"  
  
The Pokemon each gave their various sounds of agreement. Smiling triumphantly, Gobrianna recalled them one by one, tucking their Pokeballs into her belt as she did, until Charizard was the only Pokemon left. She reached out to stroke the silver mark on its snout. "We'll do it Charizard," she whispered. "We have to."  
  
The fire lizard nodded, then bent down and nosed the button on its own Pokeball. Its trainer watched as her oldest and closest friend became an insubstantial red light and was sucked inside. For some unexplainable reason, her heart gave a little lurch of sorrow as it disappeared from her sight, as if they might never see one another again.  
  
Gobrianna shook her head stubbornly, banishing the foreboding feeling. "Thinking like that is not going to do you any good," she told herself sternly. "You've got a long road ahead of you, so snap out of it." With the reprimand still hanging in the air, the Pokemon trainer turned and marched back inside to get her things.  
  
* * *  
  
"Please, miss, we're boarding now." The voice caused Gobrianna to come back to herself with a start. A young man with short red hair and bright blue eyes was giving her a kind smile and holding out his hand. She took one last look around the busy port of Fuchsia City before accepting it with the hand that wasn't clutching her staff. He assisted her up the short plank—a gesture of courtesy; she didn't actually need help to walk up a ramp that took all of two steps—and onto the craft.  
  
Gobrianna returned the man's smile as he pulled up the wooden board and leaned it against the side of the ship. "Thanks. I've traveled around a lot, but I never saw the Fuchsia City docks. There are so many ships! Not to mention the population." She looked back at the many people strolling along the sidewalk, docks and adjoining beach. The Fuchsia port was a hive of activity. Men, woman, children, sailors, Pokemon and more flashed by in a never-ending wave of color and sound. Gobrianna usually preferred serene, less populated places, but cities were always fun to visit.  
  
The young man chuckled. "County girl, huh?"  
  
She grinned sheepishly. "Is it that obvious? Yeah, my Gym's 'out in the boonies,' as the saying goes. Not that close to the ocean, either." She rubbed her arms briskly with her free hand, making a mental note to put on a sweater as soon as possible.  
  
"Oh? Pokemon trainer?" She lifted the hem of her shirt enough to reveal her belt where the six red and white hung, gleaming. He nodded. "You must be Gobrianna." At her lifted eyebrow he laughed out loud. "No," he replied to her unspoken question. "I'm not psychic or anything. I read the passenger manifest."  
  
"And. . . ?"  
  
"And there are only three passengers on this trip, including you. No one wants to go to the Island we're setting out for in autumn. It's cold enough in June! And the other two passengers are male."  
  
Gobrianna nodded. "That makes sense. So why is this ship going to the Island?" she inquired curiously. The young man hadn't been exaggerating in the lack of traffic to the particularly cold island they were going to. This was the only ship bound there for weeks.  
  
"Oh, we run supplies over every month for the crazy folk who actually choose to live there. None of that year-round freezing for me! It's not too bad, only a five-hour trip if the weather holds. I'm usually home in time for dinner." He flashed her a grin. "Well, nice meeting you, Gobrianna. You'll have to excuse me now, the captain'll be yelling for me any second now. The name's Sam, by the way. I'm sure we'll have a chance to finish this conversation later." With that the young man gave a cheery wave and walked away.  
  
Gobrianna watched him go and found herself smiling. First impression not bad, she observed critically. Then the Pokemon trainer's eye focused on the ship she was currently aboard, to perform a more thorough examination than the once-over she had given it when she first found the vessel bound for the Seafoam Islands.  
  
It wasn't that large for a ship carrying cargo, probably about thirty or forty feet long if she was any judge. There were no sails or motor in sight, and by the height of the sides she guessed there to be at least one deck below. Probably an engine room down there, she rationalized. My cabin too.  
  
But Gobrianna didn't want to go below deck just yet. Her things had already been brought aboard and stored, and the open air was just too tempting. Besides, she wanted to watch the ship pull out of harbor.  
  
Making her way to the bow of the ship, she wondered briefly about the other two passengers. She didn't see them on deck. Maybe they were below, or hadn't boarded yet. That thought was dismissed as she heard a deep voice call out, "Cast off!" A barrel-chested sailor deftly threw a thick rope that had been keeping the ship moored to the docks at a whipcord-thin woman standing on the dock. Well, those passengers had better be aboard now, Gobrianna thought as the ship chugged away from Fuchsia City port. Slowly at first, carefully avoiding the other ships in the dark green water, the ship picked up speed as it cleared the docks and pointed its nose toward the open sea. Soon they were briskly gliding over the calm waves.  
  
Gobrianna leaned over the railing, seeing the reflection of the white hull reflecting off the water below. Painted on the side of the ship were the crude picture of a Dragonite and the name of the ship: The Water Dragon. She smiled, liking the name. "Must be a good omen," she laughed. The sudden appearance of a Seel poking its head out the waves before vanishing again only confirmed her thoughts.  
  
Soon, she promised herself as The Water Dragon cruised through the green sea. I'll be at the Seafoam Islands soon. Then I'll find this mystery person and bring fantasy back. I will. I can't let the Eight down.  
  
* * *  
  
"Chaaaaaaaaar," moaned the massive fire lizard loudly, clutching the railing with its head hanging over the side. Its flaming tail lay limp upon the deck, its dark wings fluttering weakly. Gobrianna gently circled an arm around the wailing Pokemon's shoulders.  
  
"I'm sorry your seasick, Charizard," its trainer sympathized. "But you're the one who wanted to come out of your Pokeball for some fresh air. Had enough yet?"  
  
Charizard nodded plaintively. Hiding a grin, Gobrianna complied. A look of relief passed over the lizard's long face as it was drawn into the red and white sphere. As she tucked the shrunken globe back onto her belt, the sixteen-year-old raised her head to gaze out across the sea. The Water Dragon had left land over an hour ago, and Sam had just stopped by to tell her that they were about halfway there on his way to the engine room. Now she stared out over the green waves, seeing nothing save the water all around, alone again. Still no sight of the two other passengers either. Sam reported they hadn't set so much as a foot outside their cabin. She, on the other hand, had spent almost the entire trip on deck, breathing in the salty air and feeling the wind blow back her coppery, unbound hair. It had been a long time since she last felt so . . . alive.  
  
All afternoon the sun had shone down fierce and hot from its place in the bleached and cloudless sky, reflecting its radiance across the top of the waves. This was why it was so noticeable when the deck was suddenly plunged into shadow, the cool sea air turning absolutely frigid. Gobrianna shivered under her sweater as she turned her face skyward. A dark mass of black clouds had just rolled over the sun, now covering half the sky. Funny, she thought. I hadn't noticed those storm clouds rolling in.  
  
Neither, apparently, had the crew. A pair of sailors and the man she recognized as the captain emerged from the door leading below decks, deep in conversation and peering uneasily at the dark sky. The captain—a robust man with black hair graying at the temples—issued some curt commands. The two sailors immediately saluted and took off.  
  
Gobrianna approached the man before he could depart as well. "Excuse me, Captain, is everything all right?"  
  
His dark brown eyes went first to the wooden staff in her hand (not an uncommon reaction) before falling on the girl's face. "Just a storm, Miss. They sometimes sneak up on a person like this, even an old sea dog like myself. Best get yourself down below though, just in case. Can't have any of my passengers falling overboard now." Excusing himself, the captain strode away, yelling orders to a passing sailor.  
  
Gobrianna sighed. "Well, guess that's that then." She brushed her fingers across the silver necklace she wore, a habit that never failed to reassure her. Then she wasted no more time heading down below the top deck. The ominous clouds looked dark and heavy, and she already knew they moved fast. She wanted to be secure in her cabin when the storm hit.  
  
And hit it did. As the Pokemon trainer hurried down the narrow hall that bisected the lower level of the ship, a rough wave crashed against the side of The Water Dragon, sending her reeling into the wall. There was a tremendous clap of thunder that resounded in the small space she was in. Gobrianna clutched her staff to her, staggering forward again as the ship pitched and swayed in the suddenly wild water. She had to make it to her cabin. Finally she recognized the two doors assigned to the passengers facing each other in the hall. She threw open the left one and stumbled inside, noticing the silence behind the second door and not caring. Behind her the door slammed shut as The Water Dragon lurched in the opposite direction. The motion flung her onto the small cot in the corner.  
  
Gobrianna was inclined to remain on the bed, somewhere stable in the unsteady surroundings. She grabbed the edge with her free hand to ground herself on her perch, hastily casting her eyes down at her belt to check her Pokeballs. They were all there, thankfully. Looking for a lost Pokemon in a storm like this was not her idea of a fun time. Seeing everything of any importance in her mission was safe with her—the staff, the necklace and her Pokemon—she allowed herself to relax and prepared to outwait the storm.  
  
After twenty minutes of listening to the ship creak and moan as it swayed, hearing the muffled shouts of the crew as they passed by the door, and watching her belongings slide across the floor of the cabin, Gobrianna was quite bored. The next time one of her tote bags slid toward her she made a grab for it and pulled it up on the cot. Fishing out her current novel, Second Chances, the sixteen-year-old happily dived in. It only took a moment for her to totally forget the storm and the fact that she was miles out to sea on a ship heading for the Seafoam Islands. There was only Lantom, Kimaera, and the winged serpent.  
  
"Gobrianna!"  
  
The voice jerked her back to life. "Huh?" She glanced up. Sam stood in the doorway, a look of anguish on his face. Seeing his distress, she put down her book and stood. "Sam! What is—oh!"  
  
Even through her shoes, she felt the chilled wetness. She was standing in four inches of seawater! The young man strode through the cabin and grabbed her hand, pulling her forward. "The Water Dragon's going down, Gobrianna," he said softly, tugging harder when she stopped in shock.  
  
"We're sinking!?" she cried.  
  
Sam bit his lip and nodded. She felt sorry for the young sailor as he dragged her through the door of her cabin, resisting only long enough to grab her staff. Together they raced down the corridor and up to the top deck. This was a ship he obviously took pride in working on, the pained look on his face declaring his heartache. What would she do if something happened to the Fantasy Gym? She pushed the unpleasant thought away. Gobrianna's feet were soaked and numb from cold by the time the two made it up into the open air. She gasped as she saw the pandemonium.  
  
The sky was now a total dismal gray, lit sometimes with bolts of lightning and crashes of thunder. The storm clouds had completely covered the sky. The trainer didn't know how long she had been reading, didn't know what time it was, but there wasn't even a hint of light from the leaden sky to pinpoint the location of the sun. It could be the middle of the night for all she knew. A strong wind roared in her ears, blowing around anything loose on the deck. Sailors were running everywhere, yelling at each other and seeming to do three or four things at once. Then she noticed the slight list of The Water Dragon under her feet. The seawater hadn't risen enough to cover the deck yet, but Gobrianna didn't want to stick around and find out how long it would take. "Where do we go?" she asked Sam.  
  
"We have to get to the lifeboats," he gasped loudly, "before the ship goes over." His sweaty hand, which hadn't relinquished hers yet, jerked her forward again as he pushed through the carnage all around, making his way to the front of the ship. There were four long lifeboats suspended over the sides of The Water Dragon with thick wooden poles and ropes, two on each side. Shoving her toward the closest, Sam cursed out loud when he saw it empty.  
  
"What? What is it?" Gobrianna demanded. Sam didn't answer at first, searching the deck at his feet. A heap of life preservers was stacked there, and he grabbed one and thrust it at her. Then he burst out, "Captain told me to get the passengers in a lifeboat. The other two were here! Where the hell did they go?"  
  
She watched him as he wheeled around, dark blue eyes scanning the deck anxiously. Finally they glanced up and widened in recognition. "HEY!" he called over the sounds of the crew and the storm, running forward. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?"  
  
Gobrianna followed Sam's gaze as he disappeared into the melee, her own eyes searching upward as his had. And what she saw standing on top of the wheelhouse, silhouetted against a sudden flash of lightning, froze every muscle in her body. The life preserver slipped from her nerveless fingers as she locked her gaze on the two men standing above the chaos, gazing down with a calm composure that belittled the storm and the confusion below. . . .  
  
. . . .the men with long black cloaks and hoods that hid their faces.  
  
Gobrianna stared, stunned and bewildered. And in that moment, the bright light of understanding shone in her turquoise eyes. Everything became clear to her: the attack on the Eight, the fact that they hadn't contacted her since, the mysterious unseen passengers, the sudden storm.  
  
It was the Darkness.  
  
The Darkness had attacked the Eight, was battling them even now, to prevent the great silver beings from helping her on her final quest. And while she was defenseless without them, it had sent the men that dressed in black cloaks, the ones that called the Darkness "master," to stop her. She hadn't seen them in five years, but there was no mistaking who they were. She recognized them instantly.  
  
And they her. The taller one turned in her direction, the shadow under his hood singling her out of the crush of people all around. His arm appeared in the folds of his black cloak, slowly lifted and pointed a single finger at her. It was a promise, a declaration. Of what she didn't want to guess, but it made her stomach clench in fear. While the black- cloaked man held her gaze with his, she couldn't move, couldn't make a sound, couldn't see anything but the two men standing like figureheads with the backdrop of dark gray clouds behind them.  
  
"Gobrianna!"  
  
She started, the spell broken. Finally tearing her gaze away from the men, she fastened her eyes on Sam, who for the second time that day had called her back to reality and probably saved her life. His face was a mask of horror as he raced across the deck toward her, jaw slack and eyes locked on something, she realized, behind her. "Look out!" his voice screeched above the roaring of the wind. But almost drowning out Sam's cry was the loudest crrraaaaack she had ever heard.  
  
Gobrianna wheeled, just in time to see one of the poles holding the closest lifeboat horizontal snap clean in half, sending one end of the small boat plunging into the wild sea. The half of the pole still attached to the ship swung on its pivot in a wide arch away from her. It happened in a split-second, leaving only enough time for the girl to cry out as the pole completed its arch and slammed into her middle, cutting off her yell and driving the breath from her lungs.  
  
She might have blacked out, because the next thing Gobrianna knew was a brutal impact along the entire left side of her body—now both of her sides hurt—and the sudden icy cold that enveloped her, cutting into her skin like hundreds of tiny knives. She opened her mouth to scream and swallowed a mouthful of salty water, choking off the little amount of breath she had been able to draw in. Trying to spit it out only got her another gulp of the liquid that was so cold it made her teeth ache. Gobrianna kicked out blindly, trying to swim, but the waves were too violent, taking her body and doing with it what they willed. She couldn't see for the water in her eyes, couldn't breathe because the frigid air and the storm-tossed seawater both felt the same on her face, disguising which was the life-giver and which could kill if she inhaled. She was tossed upside down and back and forth and under and around and through until she couldn't tell up from down and almost wished she was unconscious again. Her mad struggles slowed as her limbs grew heavier and heavier. She was so cold. Too cold even to shiver. Her brain was growing fuzzy from lack of oxygen.  
  
I'm drowning, she realized dimly, and couldn't find the energy to care. The Darkness has won. I can't . . . I can't. My Pokemon. . . .  
  
My Pokemon! The thought sparked in her numb mind when her hand, thrown by the savage whitecaps, brushed against her side. The hard spheres were the only things solid in this insane world of terrifying movement and darkness and cold. She had to, to. . . .  
  
Her hand slid around one of the tiny balls. In her delirious state, Gobrianna couldn't even guess which Pokemon the red and white ball held, but she was beyond caring. Ordering a hand she could no longer feel to obey her, she detached it from her belt and inched her way toward the button in the center.  
  
Only to feel the sphere slip through her fingers. In an instant it was gone, taken by the waves.  
  
The girl screamed in her mind, not having the strength to force the wordless anguish through her throat. NOOOOOOOOO!  
  
It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone. The words echoed through her skull, condescending, mocking, and laden with guilt. It's gone, she whimpered painfully. Whoever it was, it's gone. The surge of emotion drained her of her last dregs of energy. She knew she wasn't going to live through this tempest, and at the moment she didn't really want to.  
  
And yet the Pokemon trainer felt the weight of another Pokeball in her hand, cupped in her palm like a glitter of life. Whatever she was thinking as the raging waves tore her through the sea, somewhere inside her she did want to live, to see her mother and her friends and Pokemon. The Eight were depending on her. With detached surprise, she felt her finger press the button to release the Pokemon.  
  
There was a surge of white light that lit up the brackish water, blindingly bright against her eyelids. And then the girl could feel a presence around her . . . and a solid surface met her shoulders, her back, her legs! It rose up under her body, lifting her upward. She was carried through the waves, breaking the surface after an eternity of cold and wet, and heaving the air into her lungs in great draughts. She coughed and choked, gagging as saltwater flowed from her nose and mouth in a painful torrent. But eventually the spasms abated and she collapsed against the solid presence holding her aloft, and her lungs filled with oxygen without struggle. For a long while she remained that way. She could feel her savior bobbing gently in the thrashing waves, navigating them effortlessly, as she lay sprawled on its back. The rise and fall of her chest was her only motion.  
  
After a time she felt the strength returning to her body, flowing through her limbs as she recovered. Her extremities tingled as the feeling returned to them. Finally she cracked open her eyes. A world of endless blue-gray spread before her sight. It took several long moments to distinguish the blue-gray sky from the blue-gray sea. And even after she thought she found the horizon line, it disappeared almost immediately. Staring at it made her head hurt.  
  
It hurt anyway. So did her sides . . . and her chest, legs and arms. Her feet and hands too. Her lungs were throbbing from the abuse of the wooden pole and the water. As a matter of fact, there wasn't a part of her body that didn't ache in one way or another. Not only that, but she was freezing. The wind was still blowing strongly, and as it hit her sodden sweater and jeans the cold invaded the very core of her being. She started to shiver uncontrollably. All in all, Gobrianna felt terrible. She let her eyes—the same blue-gray as the rest of the landscape—close with a groan.  
  
A small noise drove them open again. Big, moist, gentle eyes loomed over her. They were tinged with care and worry. And love. The sight of them sent tears mingling with the seawater on her pale face. The memory of a red and white sphere slipping into the waves burned in her mind.  
  
Feeling the heavy weight of guilt pressing down on her heart, the sixteen-year-old pushed the image away. And the next thought, that her staff probably sat at the bottom of the sea this very moment, was likewise banished from her mind. She knew that there would be time for self- condemnation and remorse later. Now she had to focus on survival. Nothing else mattered. "Thank you, Lapras," whispered Gobrianna hoarsely. The water Pokemon smiled tenderly before facing forward again, to resume cutting through the thrashing sea.  
  
Half an hour later, the girl stuttered around chattering teeth, "I-I- I'm s-so c-cold." It hadn't taken long after her strength returned to strip off her waterlogged sweater, laying it to dry on Lapras's large shell. The storm's wind was too cold to dry the item quickly, but at least the thunder and lightning had died away, leaving the clouds a lighter shade of gray. Maybe the storm's breaking up, the girl thought through her chill.  
  
So Gobrianna pulled her legs up against her thin T-shirt and wrapped her arms around them to conserve her body heat. She perched unsteadily in the little space between the water Pokemon's knobbed shell and its curved neck, though she never fell back into the churning water. The gentle creature she rode upon saw to that.  
  
It turned to her now, its head with its gentle eyes and curly ears twisting around to look its trainer in the eye. The Pokemon blinked sympathetically.  
  
"I-I'll be all right, Lapras," insisted Gobrianna. "D-do you see The W-water Dragon y-yet?"  
  
The large blue head swung left and right negatively, and the girl heaved a sigh that warmed her bare arms for a moment. "Where is it?" she moaned, not expecting Lapras to answer. "I couldn't have been thrown so far, so fast. A ship doesn't just disappear." She stared around bleakly, not wanting to admit that there was one reason The Water Dragon might be absent. No, it couldn't have sunk, she told herself firmly, trying to believe it. There'd be debris and lifeboats with survivors. It couldn't have sunk without a trace.  
  
But the wild waves as far as the eye could see argued against her mental insistence. She and Lapras were the only living beings for miles in any direction, and they hadn't come across anyone—human or water Pokemon—yet. They didn't even know where they were. They were lost at sea.  
  
Gobrianna allowed her tired eyes to close, feeling the water Pokemon parting the waves smoothly under her, its flippers rowing rhythmically. The cold wind slapped her face. The ocean spray kept her clothes from drying and drenched her lightly with moisture, doing nothing to help her shivers. The silver necklace under her shirt remained cold and lifeless. She sniffed miserably. At least she was alive. And not alone. That was something.  
  
Suddenly Lapras gave a great bellow of alarm. Gobrianna's eyes flew open in a panic, her body unfolding as she straddled the Pokemon's back and threw her arms around its neck. "What's wrong?" she yelled over the wind.  
  
The aquatic creature roared again. It began to wheel around in a tight circle, turning back the way they'd come. As it spun, whatever drove it to such action was slowly revealed to its trainer over the side of its thick neck.  
  
It was a boat.  
  
"Wait, Lapras!" shouted Gobrianna, thumping the Pokemon on the neck to gain its attention. "It's a boat! Maybe it's here for us!" The creature trumpeted an answer, not slowing for an instant. She frowned in confusion as it completed its arch and sped away at its greatest speed, hurtling through the waves. "What do you mean that's what you're afraid of?" she demanded.  
  
The booming crack exploded into the silent air, beating hard against the Pokemon trainer's eardrums. For a moment she thought the storm was gathering strength again, but she dismissed the thought when she realized it came from behind her. That was no thunderclap. Twisting around, her gaze sought out the boat that they were running from.  
  
It's a speedboat, she recognized. And it's gaining, and. . . . Her heart stopped beating. And there was a black-clothed form standing on it, a gun raised to its shoulder and pointing at them.  
  
Gobrianna swore, but it sounded more terrified than angry. "Go Lapras!" she shrieked. "They've got a gun!" Another thundering blast exploded behind them. A howl screeched through the air an instant after. It came from Lapras.  
  
"NO!" she screamed. The Pokemon's rhythmic strokes faltered. Its speed slowed dramatically. Now the sound of a motor reached Gobrianna's ears. "Lapras!" she cried in anguish, ignoring the fact that the boat would soon be upon them. "Lapras!"  
  
Looking up, she saw the water Pokemon's eyes, heavy-lidded and glazed. But strangely, there was no pain in its gaze as its gentle eyes sought out those of its trainer. And something else caught her attention. It was smaller than the palm of her hand, almost lost in the wide expanse of the blue flesh of the Pokemon's upper neck. The girl gathered her legs under her and stood, reaching up and plucking the tiny white speck from Lapras's skin. As she stared at it in her hand, an immense sense of relief crashed through her. It was a tranquilizer dart. Lapras wasn't hurt.  
  
But that relief was gone in an instant as she felt the creature give up swimming altogether, concentrating on just keeping itself afloat in the waves. The growling of the speedboat's motor was much louder now. And if she didn't pull Lapras into its Pokeball, the aquatic Pokemon was going to slip into unconsciousness and drown.  
  
There was no more time for thought, only for action. Pulling out the empty red and white sphere that would keep the gentle giant safe, she recalled Lapras as she leapt from its back into the freezing water. It hit her like a physical slap across the face, but she ignored the cold cutting to her bones and made sure her Pokeball was securely attached to her belt. Then she forced her limbs to move. She kicked out and stroked with her arms, propelling herself away from the growing noise behind her.  
  
It was a pointless gesture. There was no way she could get away from a speedboat, nowhere to hide in the never-ending stretch of dark water all around. But Gobrianna couldn't just wait for them to come, doing nothing. Even if it was pointless, she had to at least try to escape.  
  
As the speedboat pulled up alongside her she didn't look, just turned away and took a deep breath and dove. Maybe if she put enough distance between them before surfacing they wouldn't see her. She could stay underwater as much as possible and wait for them to give up and—  
  
A hand grabbed the leg of her jeans. She had half been expecting it, but it still took her by surprise. She gasped, inhaling the cold seawater. The strong arm pulled her out of the water without resistance, coughing and choking. She couldn't breathe, and as a dark presence loomed over her she knew she couldn't fight back. A cold hand grabbed her bare arm.  
  
"Let go!" Heart in throat, her mouth formed the words, but she had no breath to say them. There was a prick of pain. Blinking the water from her eyes, she saw through a curtain of dripping copper hair the needle in her arm. It withdrew in a moment, along with the cold hand, which dropped her unceremoniously on the bottom of the boat. Almost immediately her vision dimmed to black. The strength leeched out of her body, leaving her paralyzed. Gobrianna held onto consciousness as long as she could, straining her ears to listen when her sight failed. But the dark figures—there must be at least two, she thought, though she hadn't seen anything other than the hand and the needle—didn't talk. Just before the drug claimed her, she heard the sound of the motor revving and felt the speedboat tip under her limp body as it turned around.  
  
And after that Gobrianna knew nothing for a very long time. 


	3. Captive of the Followers

The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. III  
  
Destiny Fulfilled  
  
Chapter Three: Captive of the Followers  
  
By Shelli-Jo Pelletier  
  
***************  
  
It was the gentle bump of the boat that roused her. The darkness of unconsciousness receded abruptly, leaving her fully awake and aware. Whatever drug they had pumped into her had worked swiftly, but it cleared her system quickly as well. As her senses returned, she realized she could no longer hear the loud motor of the speedboat. Waves crashing against a shore were now the most prominent sound. Though her hair was still damp, her clothes and skin felt dry and warm.  
  
Gobrianna blinked open her turquoise eyes, found herself staring at the pristine white bottom of the boat, an inch from her nose. She wasn't listless or sluggish either. Her unplanned nap had restored the strength lost in her when she almost drowned.  
  
The girl struggled to get up, only to find her hands bound behind her back. This reminded her quite forcefully of her present condition. Where were her captors? she wondered fearfully. Had they left her, thinking she would remain knocked out?  
  
Gobrianna rolled over with a grunt of effort. The bright sun dazzled her vision, hanging low in the clear blue sky. The storm was gone. Well, that explained her dry clothes. How long had she been out?  
  
"She's awake." The Pokemon trainer swallowed a shriek of surprise as the black shadow fell over her. Strong hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to her feet in the boat.  
  
"Leave me alone!" she cried, amazed that she sounded more angry than afraid as she twisted out of his grip. Without her arms for balance she almost fell, but the black-cloaked man seized her again, this time locking his hands around her upper arms.  
  
He gave her a rough shake. "Cut that out," the man snarled in a deep nasal voice. "Don't make us hurt you, girl." She stilled.  
  
The man pushed her forward. "Out," he ordered. When she didn't climb over the side of the speedboat fast enough he hauled her bodily onto the small dock. For the first time Gobrianna got a good look at her surroundings. Behind her stretched the open sea, and before her spread a forest of mixed leafed and pine trees. A beach of water-smoothed rocks separated the two, green waves breaking onto the shore on either side of the dock and continuing on for as far as she could see. Out of the forest a snake-like trail emerged, densely covered in orange pine needles and yellowed leaves that proclaimed autumn had hit here earlier than it had at the Fantasy Gym. The trail ended at the dock, and a crowd of people had gathered around it. They all wore the black cloaks of the people that followed the Darkness, and all of them were staring at the new arrivals.  
  
Gobrianna gulped. There had to be at least a dozen people of various heights and shapes, all masked by the dark cloaks, surrounding the dock in a semicircle. And that meant that they were surrounding her. With the sea to her back, (not to mention the man that held her) the girl was trapped. Even if she could get away, she had nowhere to go. She had no idea where she was.  
  
For a moment there was silence; no one moved. Then one of the taller cloaked figures stepped forward purposefully. "You have done well Mariqu, Rodin. Her creatures?" The deep bass voice instantly triggered one of Gobrianna's memories. Five years ago. The road. The injured Vaporeon. The men!  
  
The girl gave a strangled gasp, her heartbeat quickening in her chest. So shocked was she that she wasn't even aware of the figure that appeared from behind her, a second boatman that she hadn't noticed, as he passed her and handed a small drawstring sack to the lead man. "Th-that's impossible," she stuttered harshly, her eyes locked on the tall man. "The Eight took you. Y-you disappeared!"  
  
He laughed, a soft and dangerous sound. "Oh, recognized me, have you?" Accepting the small bag with one hand, with the other he pulled back the hood of his cloak. He was just as she remembered him. Cool green eyes from a sharply angled face peered at her triumphantly, delighted in her shock, his blond hair immaculate. A detached, polite smile curled his thin lips. "You follow the wrong masters, girl. They have not the power to take me permanently. They merely sent me and my companions to a place distant enough to no longer be a bother to you." He shrugged. "No matter though. Obtaining the staff so many years ago did you nothing. You belong to my master now."  
  
Gobrianna's stomach shrank at those words. Her dark dream haunted her, reminding her of the time the Darkness had almost claimed her. Guilt burned in her at the mention of the staff. The staff the Eight had given her, and she had lost.  
  
Afraid to let her eyes wander anywhere else, the sixteen-year-old could only watch as the lead man reached for the sack he held in his hand and opened the neck, gazing inside. His small smile faded as his head snapped up, green eyes locked onto the face of the man that held her. "There are only five here. She would have carried six."  
  
The Pokemon trainer's captor bowed his head. "She only wore five when we caught her, Gileman. We have searched her thoroughly. If she had a sixth, it is not on her."  
  
But Gobrianna wasn't listening to the reply. She had finally gotten over the fact that the man before her had survived, and as the words he spoke sunk into her mind her eyes widened in horror. Her belt was empty.  
  
"NO!" she screamed, lunging at the lead man without thinking. But the strong hands clamped around her upper arms were like bands of iron, and she went nowhere.  
  
The smile returned to the face of the blond man, Gileman, apparent leader of this cult of followers. He withdrew one of the sparkling red and white spheres from the sack and held it out in the palm of his hand, taunting. "Oh, do these creatures mean something to you, girl? They annoy my master. I am looked upon favorably if I rid some of these pests from our world." He chuckled cruelly. "Just this morning I found a nest of those small electric rodents. I drowned them in this very bag. They were much too young to put up any fight. But I have never encountered these small balls before. I wonder . . . if one of them were crushed under my foot, would the dormant creature inside die? Perhaps you could tell me?"  
  
Gobrianna knew he was tormenting her, and enjoying it. She looked away without answering, feeling like she was about to be sick. They could do anything they wanted to her Pokemon. She wouldn't be able to stop them. She was outnumbered, surrounded and very, very alone. Her eyes closed in defeat.  
  
Footsteps. And Gileman was standing over her, his shadow blocking out the warm sun. A cold hand—why were all these mens' hands so cold?—gripped her chin and forced her head up, turquoise and green eyes meeting. He leered as he swung the bag of Pokeballs in his hand before her. "Maybe the water creature that escaped me those five years ago is in here. No one escapes me, girl. Ever. It needs to be taught a lesson. Would you like to watch?"  
  
Gobrianna couldn't help it. She knew he was provoking her, but she responded anyway. "Go ahead!" she snarled furiously, holding back the tears that threatened to blur her vision. "Just go ahead! Maybe you'll pull out Charizard instead! You'll all be burnt-out husks before you can even turn to run!"  
  
Gileman didn't immediately reply, studying her young face thoughtfully. His intense gaze constricted the Pokemon trainer's throat until she could barely breathe, but she didn't look away. She wanted to kick him, bite the hand that hovered before her and the one still touching her chin, something; but she didn't do any of those either. Finally he nodded. "Ah, the fire lizard, yes. I suppose it would be with you." The hand that held the bag retreated. Relief washed over the girl as the sack disappeared into his black cloak. At least for now the man found her more fun to torture than her Pokemon. And still Gileman didn't break their shared look.  
  
Then the cold hand on her chin slowly slid down her neck. Gobrianna froze. It rested lightly on her collarbone for an instant; she was sure he could feel her heart pounding like a Kangaskhan stampede. Suddenly his hand flashed in a lightning-quick movement. She felt a sharp pain bite the back of her neck.  
  
Gileman held up his hand as if offering a prize. Curled in his fist was a silver medallion in the shape of a starburst. The broken ends of the fine silver chain swayed in the air. "Your masters can't save you. No one can save you." The blond man pulled back his arm and chucked the necklace over the waves.  
  
Gobrianna's eyes were locked onto the flash of silver as it arched up, up into the sky. It hung there for a moment, suspended in time, before beginning to descend. Spiraling down with gathering speed, it finally fell into the sea with hardly a ripple. The Pokemon trainer didn't notice that she was biting her lip—hard—as she watched the second symbol of the Eight disappear from her life.  
  
Gileman was speaking to the man that held her. "Bring her inside, Rodin." He turned and strode away, disappearing into the crowd.  
  
The hands clamped around her arms shoved her forward. Gobrianna stumbled out of her reverie, but regained her footing quickly and hastened to stay ahead of her captor's long-legged stride. An empty feeling that she didn't understand sat heavily in her chest, as if she had no emotions at all. She knew she was still afraid, and angry to a lesser extent, but it felt like a veil had fallen over the feelings, isolating them from her consciousness. Calm flowed through her. Her mind was left clear and freethinking.  
  
She stared straight ahead, marching mechanically, lost in thought. The dry pine needles crunched underfoot, and by listening she could tell the large group of people that had surrounded the dock were following her and the man that held her, Rodin. Gileman was somewhere back there too, but Gobrianna doubted he was very far. And he had her Pokemon. She had to get them back somehow, before he hurt them. She also had to find out where she was. Near the sea, that was all she knew for certain. And she had to escape.  
  
Within ten minutes the trees parted, the path widening. The girl stopped, staring, but Rodin shoved her into motion again. They approached a two-story building, squatting in the center of a large clearing. It was made of faded red brick and gray concrete, cold and unfriendly if not practical, like an old schoolhouse. A thick garden of vegetables grew on either side of the stone steps rising to the dark green front door, which hung open to catch the early-autumn warmth of the day. It was up these steps that Rodin forced her, through the door and down a long hall lit with intermittent yellow lights.  
  
Doors and other halls branched off this main hallway, and Gobrianna sensed the black-cloaked followers behind her breaking away in small groups until there was only three sets of footsteps echoing in the hall. Rodin suddenly yanked her to a halt in front of a thick wooden door. It didn't surprise her when Gileman stepped in front of her and pushed it open with a creak that spoke of much age. As it swung open it revealed steps leading downward, disappearing almost immediately into the blackness. The blond leader, now with a lighted lantern in one hand, went first. Rodin marched her down after him.  
  
This was the basement, floor and walls solid cement. In the circle of light cast by Gileman's lantern, she saw metal posts standing from ground to ceiling, probably holding up the floor above. There was nothing else in the room as far as she could see. The Pokemon trainer began to shiver at the cold in the air, wishing that her hair was dry and that her sweater wasn't adrift in the sea. She barked a sarcastic laugh in her mind. Captured and held by her worst enemies and here she was wishing for a sweater!  
  
The two men in black brought her to the far corner of the room. Rodin gave the girl a solid kick behind her knees, forcing her down on the floor. They stood over her as she struggled to sit upright and brace her back against the cold wall, having difficulty with her hands bound behind her. Gileman's shadowed face leered at her in the lantern light, Rodin's still hidden beneath his hood. The taller man, seeing something in her face that he enjoyed, laughed quietly.  
  
"Are you going to kill me?" demanded Gobrianna calmly. Her words didn't waver. The veil over her emotions kept her fear at bay.  
  
"Oh no," returned Gileman just as calmly. "Our master granted me a message before it left us for a great battle. We are to keep you alive until it returns. When its attack is over, your masters will be too weak to find you. The staff is gone, and they will not be able to save you as our master takes you for itself. It was a pleasant experience for us. But then again, we wanted to commit ourselves to our master. I'm sure the ceremony will be quite painful for a believer like you." With this last cheery comment, the two men turned away and retreated to the stairs, taking the light with them. Their footsteps echoed in the cold room as they pounded up the wooden stairs and slammed the door shut.  
  
Gobrianna's world plunged into blackness.  
  
* * *  
  
Deep beneath the tossing green waves of the sea, a small blue Pokemon nosed through some long strands of seaweed. "Sea," it sighed in a flute- like voice, finding nothing truly appetizing. With a flutter of the little fins at its sides it wheeled and returned to scouring the empty seafloor. The sand, tinged blue-green by the sunlight filtering down through the water, was littered with rocks large and small and the occasional kelp bed. Unexciting schools of fish darted through the currents; a Magikarp floundered by. But that was about it. The small creature's red eyes scanned all this, disappointed that nothing of interest jumped into view. This young water Pokemon found the open sea quite boring. It flicked its spiral tail to propel itself forward with another trilling sigh.  
  
Through the dingy water ahead something in the sand winked and flashed, twinkling like a shiny beacon. The Pokemon's eyes fastened onto the faint sparkle. Finally, something interesting! It swam toward the glitter eagerly to investigate.  
  
But its momentum cautiously slowed as it reached the glittering object half-buried in the sand. There was a tangle of black seaweed close- by, and it dove into this first. When careful observation of the object revealed that it neither moved nor changed in any way, the Pokemon edged out and circled the strange gleaming thing cautiously. As it passed between the sunlight and the objective, its body cast it into shadow. Suddenly the glimmer was gone.  
  
"Horsea!" exclaimed the water Pokemon, surprised. Then realization struck. It had only been the sunlight hitting the object that caused it to shine. The blue sea creature floated closer slowly. It appeared to be a hemisphere of something hard and white, but what exactly the Horsea had no idea. Taking a chance, it darted down and nosed up the sand that had half buried the object. The disturbed silt billowed up, obscuring the Pokemon's vision. When it settled, the object lay exposed on the bottom of the sea. Its top half shone brilliant white, and the bottom hemisphere was a deep red. The Horsea backed up a little warily. It was a Pokeball!  
  
Wild Pokemon felt very strongly about their battle-trained relatives. Some were angered by the fact that they should live so comfortably, without ever having to worry about where they would sleep that night or when their next meal would be. Some were deathly afraid of being captured. Most were wary of anyone who spent that much time with humans. Many simply ignored them outright, shunning them when they encountered one another. In any event, it was almost never a frictionless occurrence when a wild Pokemon and a trained one met.  
  
However, the Horsea that had discovered the red and white sphere under the waves was just an adolescent, and tired of waiting around for something exciting to happen in its undersea world. This was just what it had been waiting for! Hesitating no longer, the water Pokemon flitted forward and hit the center button with its long snout.  
  
A blinding flash of dazzling white light—as if the Pokeball had exploded or something!—lit up the deep water. The Horsea squealed and dived back into the black seaweed, peaking out just in time to see a cloud of bubbles irrupt from the opened ball. Something streaked out of it, cutting through the wall of bubbles as it shot to the surface. Horsea, curious, followed discreetly. It surfaced behind the trained Pokemon, watching it gulp air greedily and gaze about in confusion. Its spiny yellow ears twitched as it treaded water and listened to the waves crash against one another.  
  
The Horsea's trepidation evaporated as it saw it was a Vaporeon, a fellow water Pokemon. "Hi!" it chirped in the language of its species, of which all Pokemon it had ever met understood.  
  
The Vaporeon yelped and whirled around, sending a wave of water to wash over the smaller blue creature. The Horsea ducked through the wave as the Eevee evolution barked its annoyance, speaking in its own tongue as well. "Vap! Don't sneak up on someone like that! Where am I?"  
  
"Sea," sniffed the Horsea indignantly. "Is that what you say to the Pokemon who freed you from that round prison? At the very least, you could thank me." The spines on its face quivered, showing its affront.  
  
"Thank you," Vaporeon responded automatically, not really thinking about what it was thanking the Horsea for. It was more concerned with how it got to its present location. The last thing it remembered, it had been doing some last minute training against Arbok at an inn in Fuchsia City. "Now, where am I?" repeated the trained Pokemon. "Where's my trainer?"  
  
The Horsea rolled its eyes. "I assure you I have no idea where your trainer is. No humans around here, that's for sure."  
  
"No kidding." Vaporeon paddled around in a short circle, eyeing the endless landscape of water. "How could I have ended up here?" it muttered to itself.  
  
"You were in that Pokeball down there!" supplied the wild seahorse helpfully. It dipped under the waves and began to plunge into the depths, beckoning Vaporeon to follow. Taking a deep breath, the trained Pokemon dove after the wild one.  
  
"See?" the Horsea trilled, swimming around the Pokeball that lay on the seafloor. "I found you and set you free!"  
  
Vaporeon took the Pokeball in its mouth and headed for the surface without answering, lost in thought. How had the red and white sphere gotten all the way out here? Gobrianna would have had to cross the sea to reach the Seafoam Islands, but she wouldn't have let one of her Pokeballs fall overboard! And if it had somehow gotten lost, she would have found a way to find it. She could have sent Lapras or Dewgong after the ball. Vaporeon knew its trainer would never abandon it on purpose. It just didn't make sense. . . .  
  
"Wait for me!" the Horsea whistled, hurrying after the Eevee evolution. At the surface once again, Vaporeon transferred the ball from its mouth to its fish-like tail, balancing it carefully to keep it from dropping back under the waves. It turned as the wild Horsea surfaced next to it.  
  
"Listen up," it commanded urgently, wasting no time with pleasantries. "My trainer would never leave me out here if she had a choice. That can only mean one thing. She must be in trouble. And if my trainer is in trouble then I have to save her . . . but I have to find her first."  
  
The seahorse was surprised, not to mention a little insulted. After all, it had done the Vaporeon a real favor, hadn't it? The Pokemon would still be stuck at the bottom of the sea without its help, wouldn't it? You'd think it'd like to hang around for a bit, show its appreciation, the Horsea grumbled to itself. But no, all it wants to do is run back to the humans. Talk about gratitude.  
  
The smaller blue creature decided to try to change the Vaporeon's mind. "What's your rush?" it smiled. "Why don't you take a break from all that fighting and battling the humans always make you do? There was a storm earlier today, but it's nice now." The Horsea twirled its fins, stretching out on its back and letting the warm sun fall on its pale belly. It closed its eyes in an image of luxury. "You can stay here with me," it offered amiably. "Things will be much more interesting with a trained Pokemon around."  
  
Its comments were only greeted with silence. The wild Pokemon cracked open a single red eye to gauge the reaction to its little speech. Vaporeon stared at the Pokemon as if it were insane. "You have to help me find my trainer," it ordered, totally ignoring everything it had said.  
  
The Horsea sat up in shock. "Excuse me?" it snorted. "I don't have to do anything I don't want to. No human tells me what to do. And you can't either."  
  
"But I don't know where I am. I don't know where my trainer is. I need help!" explained Vaporeon impatiently. "You're the only one around. You'll have to."  
  
"And why should I?"  
  
"Because without my trainer we're all going to die!" the trained Pokemon shot back.  
  
"Humph." The Horsea was not impressed. "Whatever. I don't know what kind of brainwashing those humans have you under, but it's obvious you're not thinking on your own. What Pokemon would give up freedom to slave under some stupid human who doesn't do anything but make you fight? Or maybe you're just as stupid as they are. That would explain why you don't take my generous offer."  
  
Vaporeon growled. "You take that back!" it barked angrily.  
  
"Make me!" retorted the Horsea.  
  
"Vap!" The trained Pokemon lunged at the little seahorse, who trilled in alarm and ducked under the waves. The two water Pokemon chased each other around and about the waves, not thinking of anything other than their anger for each other. The Horsea shot patches of black ink behind it, blinding the Eevee evolution that swam close behind. Vaporeon unconsciously wrapped its tail tight around its Pokeball to keep it from sinking into the dark depths as it pursued the wild Pokemon. It used its Quick Attack to stay close to the Horsea as it tried to lose itself among the fast currents and dancing seaweed of the sea.  
  
The furious creatures paid no attention to where they were going as they swam through the green water of the sea, nor how long they had been at it. Suddenly the Horsea, who had been looking behind it to see how close Vaporeon had come, jerked its head back around in shock and stopped dead in the water. Vaporeon couldn't stop in time, and crashed into the smaller Pokemon.  
  
It found itself staring directly into the Horsea's eyes, and saw that the anger had vanished from them. Fear had replaced the hostility, fear so strong the little seahorse was quivering in the water. "W-we shouldn't be here," it whispered shakily.  
  
Vaporeon's own ire faded when it saw how serious the wild Pokemon had become. "What is it?" it whispered back.  
  
The Horsea peered around in fright, as if expecting a Gyarados to come charging up out of the depths to devour them that very instant. Then it quickly headed for the surface, beckoning Vaporeon to follow with a flick of its spiral tail.  
  
"See that?" the seahorse whistled, indicating with its flute-like nose. Vaporeon turned its gaze to the far horizon, where a dark smudge was smeared. The instant the Eevee evolution set eyes upon it, it shuddered without understanding why. A dark radiance seemed to envelop what it now realized was an island in the distance.  
  
"Yikes," the trained Pokemon murmured.  
  
The Horsea nodded. "You see? No water Pokemon swim in these waters. We all give that place a wide birth. No one's really sure what's out there, but whatever it is, it doesn't like Pokemon. That's what my mother says anyway. And even though I'll admit I don't listen to her very often, even I won't go check it out. That kind of interesting I can do without." This said, the little blue Pokemon about-faced and began to swim away as fast as its fins could take it.  
  
Vaporeon didn't immediately follow. It continued to stare at the island that sat on the far horizon, deep in thought. It had felt this . . . this darkness somewhere before. Where? The water Pokemon thought back: back to when it had been an Eevee, back to its first trainer, back to when it chose the Water Stone, back to the boy Daniel, back to when it first met Gobrianna. . . .  
  
Gobrianna! Memory sparked. The staff! The black men!  
  
Now Vaporeon was the one shivering in the green seawater. It remembered the men. The black-clothed men that had tried to take the staff from Vaporeon while it was delivering it to Gobrianna. The dark men, who had an aura as black as the cloaks they wore. They had hurt Vaporeon, badly. And the same feeling of darkness that could be felt around them now shone from that island.  
  
A sharp tug on its tail made Vaporeon yelp, breaking its train of thought. The water Pokemon whirled and found the little wild Horsea tugging urgently on its fish-like tail, almost making it lose its grip on its Pokeball. "What are you waiting around for?" it cried, with real fear in its voice. "Let's go!"  
  
Again Vaporeon didn't immediately react. It turned back to look at the dark island, feeling an icy point in its chest start to spread outward. When Vaporeon had been an Eevee, it had been one of the strongest fighters around. It had even defeated its own evolutionary forms in Pokemon battles: Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon. Sarah—its first trainer—had been so proud. They had decided together that it should evolve, to become even stronger. And Eevee had chosen the Water Stone.  
  
But as the newly evolved Vaporeon fought its first battle in its new form, a good fair match against a strong Poliwhirl, both of them were dismayed when Vaporeon was almost immediately defeated. Sarah had stared in shock as Vaporeon ran away in tears, confused and afraid. It had returned to her of course, eventually. And after even more time it had learned to accept itself. Some investigative work later revealed that the Water Stone they had used had an almost invisible, hairline crack. That fracture had disrupted the evolution. It wasn't anything they had done wrong, they had just gotten an unlucky break. As an Eevee it had been a great fighter; as a Vaporeon it wasn't. And that was that.  
  
Vaporeon remembered the time just after it had evolved. After running away from the battle, it had hidden in the City Park as it started to pour. The rain dripped down the leaves of the tall trees, soaking the weeping Pokemon and making it even more miserable. Never in all its life had it ever been more afraid and alone. It was so afraid, so terrified. . . .  
  
As terrified as I am right now, the water Pokemon thought soberly, realizing that it had hit the nail on the head. That was what made it remember its past. The fact that there were only three times in its life when it had ever been truly terrified: after it had evolved, when it had first met the dark men, and now. And it knew what it had to do.  
  
"No." Both water Pokemon seemed startled at the firm, clear word Vaporeon spoke.  
  
"What?" gasped the Horsea in disbelief. "What did you say?"  
  
Vaporeon began paddling, slowly and purposefully, toward the dark island. "I said no," it replied. "I can't run away."  
  
The Horsea watched Vaporeon swim off, thinking that training Pokemon surely made them insane. But then it sighed and corrected itself as it flicked its tail and hurried to catch up. They were both insane. "Why are you doing this?" it pleaded. "What possible reason can you have for going to that place? And why am I following you?" The last it muttered to itself, and Vaporeon paid it no heed.  
  
"Because," stated the Eevee evolution firmly, "I don't understand how, but I know my trainer is there. She's in trouble, and I'm going to save her."  
  
* * *  
  
Gobrianna had no way of knowing how long she had been sitting in the chilly darkness of the basement, leaning against the cold wall with her hands bound behind her, but it certainly seemed like forever. When the two black-cloaked men had first left her she had immediately struggled to her feet, more to prove to herself that she still had some freedom left than to actually stand.  
  
She knew if she didn't do something, her thoughts would start to wander. Wander to what these men would do to her when they were ready, and what they would do to the ones she loved. And nothing good would come of that. She'd just scare herself stupid. There had to be something that she could do to take her mind off her current situation. . . .  
  
Starting in the corner they had shoved her into, Gobrianna began to systematically explore by sweeping her feet in wide arcs as she slowly walked a back and forth pattern across the floor. It was slow work, and she had to concentrate hard to keep from stumbling over her own feet in the dark. An incalculable time later, she concluded that there wasn't a single thing on the basement floor. Sighing in defeat, the girl collapsed against the wall where she had finished her search, in the opposite corner that she had begun from.  
  
She was still sitting there when the door above her creaked open without warning, allowing a widening sliver of yellow light to flow down the stairway and bathe the concrete floor at its foot. Gobrianna froze as footsteps echoed in the empty air. When the door closed, only the light of a single candle pierced the darkness of the room. It slowly floated down the stairs, carried in one hand by another of the black-clothed persons. She watched the dark hood turn to one side, then the other, seeking its prisoner. When it saw her it stepped closer unhesitatingly to stop a pace in front of her.  
  
She watched, amazed and wary, as the cloaked person knelt and set the thick white candle on the floor. With the freed hand it gently pushed the hood of its cloak back, revealing its face in the flickering candlelight. The Pokemon trainer gasped; it was a woman!  
  
She had a long braid of maroon hair that tumbled freely down her back now that her hood was out of the way. Her eyes were dark, dark blue, and they held no cruelty as they gazed at her from under long lashes. If anything, she looked at her . . . sympathetically?  
  
"Sorry to keep you down here so long, in the dark," the woman spoke. Her voice was deep and husky, with a hint of an accent Gobrianna couldn't name. "Gileman wanted you to fret for a while first."  
  
She stiffened at the sound of the man's name. For a moment the woman's kind voice and tender look had made her forget the black cloak she wore on her slender frame. The mention of the heartless leader of these followers reminded her forcefully that she would find no friends here. Instead of answering, Gobrianna glared her hatred at the woman without words.  
  
She sighed. "He said you would be like this," the woman commented casually, settling more comfortably on the hard, cold ground in front of the girl. "I told him I might be able to get you to open your mind a bit. Gileman's a bit . . . ah, shall we say 'devoted' to his cause. I'm not quite so fanatical in my following."  
  
Gobrianna did not reply. She refused to talk to this person. It was the only form of protesting she had.  
  
The woman acted as if she didn't notice. "Well he allowed me to visit you at least, although even that took a little persuasion." Only silence greeted her entreaty. "My name is Sable," she offered at length. "The others call you only 'girl.' Perhaps you can give me something more polite to address you as?"  
  
Gobrianna snorted, but that was it.  
  
"I see." The compassionate look in the woman's eyes fled. With a dignified grace she stood up once more, making no move to collect the candle. "I shall leave you then. I cannot say I didn't try." She turned to ascend the stairs and paused, calling back after a moment of silence, "I had thought you might have some questions for me. Especially about some strange creatures now in our possession?"  
  
Gobrianna bolted to her feet. The candle's flame danced wildly in the wind created by her movement. "What did you do to my Pokemon?" she cried. Her voice was caught between agony and fury.  
  
There was a triumphant smile on her full lips as the woman turned back around. "So you can speak." The girl's turquoise eyes narrowed. "What is your name?" asked the woman mildly, as if they were meeting on the street.  
  
"Santa Claus," she snarled. "Tell me!"  
  
"Tell me your name."  
  
They stared at each other in the dim lighting, eyes locked. Gobrianna was the first to look away. "Gwen." She spoke the first name that came to her mind. "Why do you want to know?"  
  
"I was merely curious, Gwen." The woman sat again, beckoning to Gobrianna to do the same. Realizing she wasn't going to hear about her Pokemon unless she complied, she slid down the wall until they were facing each other once again.  
  
"Your creatures are safe, for the time being. Gileman's put them away until he is less busy. There is much preparation to be done for our master's return."  
  
Gobrianna swallowed hard, feeling only small comfort from what Sable told her. She knew it would only be a matter of time. "What will he do to them?" she whispered weakly.  
  
"He will torture them for his own amusement, and then kill them." Gobrianna bit back a cry at the blunt revelation, but she couldn't keep two small tears under control. They slipped down her cheeks, glittering in the candlelight. Sable clucked her tongue in disapproval. "Don't, now. There's no sense getting so worked up over simple creatures. They're useless, ugly things. Soon they'll all be gone, when our master has finished its plans." Seeing the girl's horrified expression, she added, "I image a lot of people will feel as you do, but they'll learn. You all will."  
  
The Pokemon trainer had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from retorting. Angering her captors wouldn't get her anywhere. So instead she turned to another question that had been eating away at her since her capture. "What happened to The Water Dragon?"  
  
Sable's dark blue eyes looked confused, but cleared a moment later. "Why did my master tell Gileman to seize you and keep you alive?" she returned.  
  
So that's how it goes, thought Gobrianna. Ask a question, answer a question. Fine. "Because I'm the only one who can mess up the Darkness' plan. It could kill me, but it chooses to keep me alive and . . . make me its own." She shuddered.  
  
"Ah yes." Sable nodded. "It is a very eye-opening experience. I'm sure you will find the ceremony enlightening." She couldn't tell if the woman was being serious or making a cruel joke.  
  
"It'll change me," shot back Gobrianna.  
  
"All great things can change a person," Sable returned. "Not all of it is bad."  
  
She ignored that remark. "What about the ship I was on?"  
  
The woman in black shrugged. "You were washed overboard in a freak storm that damaged the ship, but not fatally as they first believed. After effecting repairs they began a search, but were not successful in finding you. They then delivered their supplies to the Island they were bound for and are now returning to port, I suppose. They will recount what they believed happened, and your friends and family will think you have drowned at sea. Our two storm-callers will be returning as soon as they can. Does that answer your question?"  
  
Gobrianna barely nodded, relief washing over her so strongly that she didn't pay any attention to the last half of Sable's statement. The ship was safe. She had been so terrified. If The Water Dragon had sunk, it would have been her fault. The men in black cloaks had only wanted her. The deaths of Sam and the rest of the crew would have been on her head.  
  
Then the other half of Sable's words hit. Drowned at sea? Her mother! Blu! The Gym and her Pokemon! She thought about the grief that they and others would go through when they heard, and a point of pain stabbed her heart.  
  
Sable saw her face. "It is for the best," she consoled the girl. "After your eyes are opened by our master you won't be able to have contact with them ever again. You won't even want to."  
  
She couldn't take it anymore. "Go away," she growled. "I don't have anything more to say to you."  
  
"No? No more questions to demand of me?"  
  
Gobrianna scowled at her. Sable gazed right back, the look of one in total control and knowing it on her coldly beautiful face. Finally the Pokemon trainer demanded one word: "Why?"  
  
The woman cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Why do you follow the Darkness? Why does anyone? You must know that it cares only about furthering its own ends. It would turn away from you in a second if the opportunity presented itself. Sacrifice you without a second thought! What can you possibly gain for following something that cares nothing for you?" The passion in her voice surprised even Gobrianna.  
  
Sable did not answer right away. A fraction of respect entered her dark eyes. "You ask things someone older and wiser than you would not consider. Gileman was right, you are not to be underestimated. I am impressed. I will answer your question.  
  
"Our master does indeed care about nothing save conquering your masters and ruling this world. Few followers are mistaken in this. But we also know that our master cannot manifest bodily in this world. It can only rule through humans that believe in its power, much as your masters can only effect things through believers such as yourself. So we know that our master needs us as much as we need it. When your masters are defeated and the creatures that are so much a part of them are gone permanently, it is we who shall carry out our master's rules on this world."  
  
"Is that why people follow the Darkness? So they can rule the world?" whispered Gobrianna with horrid fascination.  
  
Sable shrugged elegantly. "We all follow for different reasons. Some because they like the feel of the power they can wield. Some because they have nothing else in their lives, no family or home or love. Some simply because they know no other life; they were born into this."  
  
"Which of those reasons is yours?" If I don't accomplish anything else, at least I'll have some answers, the girl thought.  
  
The woman waved her hand in a dismissing manner. "None. I am more sensible than most. I follow because I know a war is being waged by beings much more powerful than any human could ever hope to be. The end of this war is going to bring about a change so great it will be noticed by every man, woman and child on this planet. And I don't intend to be on the losing side when it happens."  
  
Gobrianna's lower lip curled in disgust. This woman didn't even believe in what she was doing. She was as self-serving and self-centered as the Darkness! They certainly deserved each other.  
  
Sable attempted to continue the conversation, but Gobrianna was thoroughly disgusted with the woman and refused to respond. Eventually the block-cloaked woman rose from the cold ground and gazed down at the bound girl with detachment. "So be it, Gwen. I will see you again when my master has returned." And with that she retreated up the stairs. The yellow light flowed down the stairs for a moment and vanished as the woman left.  
  
Gobrianna heaved a sigh, but refused to watch as Sable left her alone once again. She couldn't decide whether conversing with the enemy was better than sitting alone in the dark or not, but at least she left the candle. She stared blankly into the dancing flame as it sank lower and lower into the white wax, her thoughts heavy and deep, until it sparked and went out, and the darkness engulfed her.  
  
* * *  
  
"This is crazy!" the little Horsea objected in a hushed whisper. "We should swim away right now. I know! I'll introduce you to my friends. There's a Magikarp I know that's really kinda bright for it kind—"  
  
"Shh!" hissed Vaporeon. "That high-pitched voice of yours will draw them right to us." The two dark figures on shore were busy unloading a small boat and securing it to the dock; they didn't glance out to sea. The two Pokemon sank low in the waves ten yards from shore, watching and waiting. When the black cloaks had disappeared up the trail, Vaporeon turned its eyes on its wild companion. "You're right, you should swim away right now."  
  
Horsea nodded. "This may be the first sensible thing you've said yet. We can—hey! What about you?"  
  
"I told you, I'm here to rescue my trainer." The Eevee evolution began paddling to shore purposefully. It looked back to call its thanks to the wild Pokemon, only to find that the water's surface was smooth and unbroken. Horsea had dunked under the waves and was hovering over the sandy bottom. From the angle, Vaporeon couldn't tell what the little seahorse was looking at, but it watched as it nosed aside several pebbles, sending up brief billows of sand. There was a silver flash that Horsea looped around its muzzle before surfacing next to Vaporeon.  
  
"Vapor!" exclaimed the trainee in shock. "That's my trainer's!" It snatched the silver necklace from the surprised water Pokemon and raced for the shore. "Fank youff!" called back Vaporeon as its paws struck the sandy bottom. It sloshed out of the sea, dripping wet.  
  
Horsea floated in the lapping water, unable to follow. "Horsea. Be careful," it trilled softly before dipping under the next wave. The water rippled once, and Horsea was gone.  
  
The large, smooth rocks that made up the beach promptly ended, to be replaced by a forest floor covered with the decaying matter of plant life. Vaporeon skipped from the slippery tops of the stones to the rich soil of the woods. It dropped the silver necklace in the carpet of orange pine needles and fallen leaves as it inhaled deeply. The sharp tang of autumn entered its nostrils, that smell that always permeated the air this time of year and seemed to remind the water Pokemon of its fiery cousin Flareon.  
  
But the scent that Vaporeon had been searching for failed to be detected. There wasn't a single Pokemon smell in the wind, it realized with distress. Usually in a forest like this Vaporeon would be able to notice the dry smell of wind and sand that was a Pidgey, and the sweet and nutty smell Rattata got from the foods they ate. Spearows smelled like hot fury and Sandshrew like the dirt they burrowed into. Pikachu had that tang that filled the air after a thunderstorm. Added to each of these would be the scent of a wild animal that lived and survived without the benefit of human help. But Vaporeon couldn't detect any of these wild creature smells, as if there were no Pokemon here.  
  
The water Pokemon sighed. Horsea had been right, no Pokemon lived on this island. And what am I doing here? it thought bleakly. Knowing it was the only Pokemon for miles around deflated much of the Eevee evolution's confidence.  
  
The wind shifted, bringing another scent to its nose. This one was sickly sweet with an underlying sour bite, like rotting fruit. Vaporeon shuddered; this smell could only come from the dark men that held Gobrianna prisoner. It snorted to get the ugly scent out of its nostrils, then wound the broken chain of the silver necklace around one paw and trotted north, the direction the breeze was blowing.  
  
The forest passed by in a blur as Vaporeon pushed its way through fiery-colored, mostly naked bushes and low branches. Pine needles crunched underfoot. A splashing gurgle reached the Pokemon's spiny ears, and the smell of fresh water made its nostrils flare. Shiny black eyed lit up. It broke into a run toward the sound, glad to finally be away from the saline and back to the pure water it loved. When a narrow stream came into view Vaporeon splashed in happily. It cavorted in the tugging current for a moment, heart lifting, before vaulting over the far bank and continuing on its way.  
  
The dark smell became thicker and more cloying to the water Pokemon, but whenever it faltered the sun seemed to sparkle off the silver necklace wrapped around its paw. It thought of Gobrianna and plunged on, self- confident.  
  
It was so filled with thoughts of rushing into the throng of dark figures, of bravely saving its trainer from her enemies, that it blundered right into the clearing where the two-story building stood without realizing.  
  
"Por!" the Pokemon yipped, stumbling back in shock until it had hidden itself in a mostly concealing bush. Somehow it knew this was the enemy's stronghold. It edged forward until only its finned head and front paws poked out of the bush, gazing up at the looming building. Not too long from now, the sun would be setting. Shadows appeared as living, seething things around this building, as if beckoning unwary creatures into their clutches. Vaporeon gulped uneasily.  
  
Gotta go on. She's in there. Alone. The water Pokemon looked for a place to move closer. It spotted the stone stairs leading up to the front door. There was a little hollowed out space under them, for storage maybe. Of what, Vaporeon didn't particularly care. It was big enough to squeeze into.  
  
The water Pokemon took a deep breath, one last glance around, and darted out into the open. It dashed across the clearing as fast as its four paws could take it, only stopping when it had crammed the very tips of its tail fin into the tiny space under the stone stairs. Panting, the Pokemon strained its spiny ears. It waited for the yell of someone spotting a Vaporeon or fast footsteps approaching or an alarm to sound.  
  
Silence.  
  
Vaporeon's heartbeat began to slow. It craned its neck around the small enclosure, taking stock of its situation. The space it was crammed into was open on both sides of the stairs; the Pokemon's quick entrance had shoved an assortment of gardening equipment out the other side. One thing was sure: it couldn't stay very long. To get to the space under the stairs Vaporeon had had to tromp through a ripe and overflowing vegetable garden. Someone was bound to come along and notice the incriminating paw prints leading through the dirt.  
  
The silver necklace flashed as if struck by sunlight once again, even in the shadows under the stairs. Vaporeon nodded decisively. It was time to act. The water Pokemon loosed its tight hold on the Pokeball held all this time by its tail. If it needed to fight in this place it would need its tail free for its Tail Whip. That was one attack that it did do well.  
  
But it couldn't leave the Pokeball here. What if someone came along and saw it? The Pokemon frowned thoughtfully. It would have to take it along. Now the question was how. Vaporeon peered up at the door above its head. Ah! There was a small space under the door! If it shrunk the Pokeball it should be able to fit underneath.  
  
Doing so, the water Pokemon took the little sphere and flicked it upward with a flip of its paw. Its aim was true, and the ball rolled right under the door. Vaproeon nodded in satisfaction.  
  
Now the Eevee evolution closed its eyes. Its form wavered as it concentrated hard, calling up its Acid Armor. Most people, unless they were Vaporeon trainers, thought that this attack merely made the Vaporeon invisible in water. It was more than that. Acid Armor actually transformed the atoms in a Vaporeon's body into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, into water molecules. It truly became water.  
  
If anyone had been outside the building at this time they would have seen a most peculiar sight. It would have been hard to miss a good-sized puddle of water trickle out from under the front steps, flow up the stairs, and leak through the crack under the door. Luckily there was no one outside, so Vaporeon entered undetected.  
  
As it coalesced back into its true form, it picked the Pokeball up in its mouth. Its black eyes darted back and forth quickly. A long hallway lighted with dim yellow lamps stretched before it. Many doors and other halls branched off for as far as it could see. The immensity of it all made Vaporeon wince. Where was Gobrianna in all of this?  
  
As the water creature's eyes roamed, they happened to fall upon it front paw, and it was amazed to notice that the silver necklace was just as secure and unaltered as it had been before the Acid Armor has taken affect. The Pokemon blinked. How odd. Of course, this wasn't just any old ordinary necklace. One more reason to find Gobrianna as quickly as possible.  
  
First things first. The aquatic creature strained its spiny ears, listening for any sound of movement or voices. Nothing came to it, so it cautiously slunk toward the closest open doorway. It felt like every nerve in its body was tensed, on edge, wary and waiting. This was more important than the most serious Pokemon battle. Its trainer's life was at stake. For a trained Pokemon there was nothing more significant in the world, not even its own life.  
  
The room inside was dark, which meant that it was probably safe. Humans didn't like the hang around the dark if they could help it. By moving carefully Vaporeon was able to find another doorway on the other side of the room with little trouble. It opened out into another hall, identical to the first. Maybe it even was the first. The water Pokemon shook its head and continued to explore. Many doors and hallways—even a staircase—later, it was still no closer to finding Gobrianna. There was no way to go about it systematically, this place was worse than any maze. It was all trial and error.  
  
The Pokemon had just spied a door more elaborate than the others, one engraved with strange symbols around the edge that made Vaporeon shudder, debating on whether to go up or not when its ears twitched. Voices! Coming closer! Vaporeon dove for the nearest doorway and hid under one of the long tables inside. Thankfully a white linen tablecloth hung almost to the floor, hiding it from view. It held its breath and listened. There was the sound of a heavy door opening. The voices became clearer, sorted out to be those of a young woman and an older man. They were deep in conversation as they neared the doorway. They had come from the adorned door.  
  
Vaporeon thought a nasty Pokemon curse as the two humans paused in front of the doorway. What luck! Go, go, go! it thought. Keep going! But the voices were escalating now, as if in a heated discussion. The Eevee evolution curled up into a ball under the table to wait and listen. There wasn't anything else to do.  
  
"It's not fair!" the young woman was complaining. "Why do we slave about all day while he just sits in that room and gives everyone orders? If he needs to get it done, he can do it."  
  
"Keep your voice down," cautioned the male voice, lowering his own as he spoke. "You don't want Gileman to get word of what you're saying. You know very well our master communes with him more than with any of us. It's his duty to pass its words on to us. We aren't doing what Gileman wants, we are doing what the master demands. Now come on, we're too close to his chamber to continue this conversation here."  
  
The younger of the two replied to this, but since they had finally started to move on and their footsteps echoed on the wooden floorboards, the distance and the noise masked her answer. Vaporeon didn't particularly care anyway. The only thing it cared about was the fact that they seemed to be talking about someone is charge, and anyone in charge would know where Gobrianna was.  
  
The Eevee evolution nosed the tablecloth up and peered out into the room. Both it and the hall appeared to be peacefully undisturbed. It edged out from under the linen and peaked around the doorway. The hallway was empty, the decorated door across the hall hung slightly ajar.  
  
Vaporeon had planned to dash across the hall, sneak into the room, find a place to hide, and listen until whoever was in there mentioned where the prisoner was being held. Not the best of plans, perhaps, but the water Pokemon was tired of aimlessly searching this impossibly large structure, worrying every moment that someone might stumble upon it and sound the alarm. However, it found there was one large dilemma in its strategy: it was too afraid to move.  
  
Five-year-old memories surfaced in the aquatic creature's thoughts, unbidden. It remembered the three men it had stood against, alone and outnumbered. It remembered the malice and cruelty they had radiated as they ruthlessly attacked it. It remembered the twisted pleasure they took from hurting it. It remembered the pain.  
  
By the time the memories receded, Vaporeon was a quivering mass of terror. It couldn't have moved if a group of the black-cloaked beings had moved into the hall that very instant. Not even if Gobrianna herself had been there.  
  
Gobrianna. . . . Another memory came. The memory of their first meeting, how she had stood between it and the men, preventing them from hurting it again. How she had banished the men with the weapon it had successfully brought her, then traveled far into the night to find a place of healing. Gobrianna needed Vaporeon. Without her Pokemon she couldn't do as the shining beings wanted, she couldn't save the world. Besides, she was its trainer. That should be enough.  
  
Vaporeon forced its trembling legs to straighten. It picked up its head to gaze at the slightly opened door with determination. The silver necklace's soft glow changed to an encouraging pulse, like a heartbeat as adrenaline filled a body, then dimmed and died as if knowing the Pokemon would need to all but disappear for this next challenge.  
  
The water Pokemon skittered across the wooden hall, treading lightly and holding its tail high so no sound would give it away. It approached the engraved door slowly, sticking its nose into the gap after only a moment's hesitation and peering inside. The room beyond was a bit larger than the size of an extravagant master bedroom, though no furniture identified it as such. It was shrouded in darkness. Several thick white candles cast the only light upon a small shrine set in center of the chamber.  
  
Vaporeon gulped and almost retreated as its sight fell on the modest altar. A black cloth draped over it, and besides the candles tiny metallic objects that the Pokemon couldn't identify littered the flat top. But it was the figure kneeling on the floor before the black shrine that made Vaporeon fight the compulsion to turn and run. The blond man's dark cloak spread about him on the floor; his unhooded head was bowed in prayer. Yet even in this non-threatening position the Pokemon feared for its life. It had experienced first-hand what these dark humans were capable of. All this man had to do was turn around and see it. . . .  
  
The Eevee evolution firmly pushed the thought away, even as it pushed its way further into the room. The candles' light couldn't reach far past the altar. The corners of the room were too dark to discern a still creature's form from the flickering shadows. At least, that was what Vaporeon hoped as it curled up in as tight a ball as possible (it tucked the paw bearing the silver necklace under its body, incase the jewelry decided to start glowing again) in the corner closest to the door.  
  
Whatever the blond man was doing, he was doing it silently. Once in a while he would shift slightly, or make a sharp movement with his head or hands, but other than that he was still. Vaporeon couldn't guess what he was doing, but from the intensifying stiffness of his posture, it could guess he was becoming increasingly annoyed. Finally the human gathered himself and stood so fast the aquatic Pokemon had to suppress a start of surprise. Movement now would be a death wish. "I can not take this silence any longer," muttered the man in a deep bass voice that sent tremors of fear crawling over Vaporeon's skin. It saw the man's hands balled into fists at his side. "The girl. She will have the answers. I must question the girl." And the man whirled and started striding toward the door . . . and Vaporeon!  
  
The Pokemon froze, completely still save for its thumping heart, as the man headed straight for it. But its mind was whirling at an incredible speed, realizing that the man's face was the very same as the man who had attacked it those five years ago, even as its wide black eyes lit up with another recognition. Girl. Gobrianna!  
  
Luckily the man's green eyes weren't searching the corners of the room he believed to be secure. They were unfocused, turned inward, thoughts far away from the dark chamber lit only with candles. He crossed the room and vanished out the door without hesitation.  
  
Only then did Vaporeon lurch to its feet. "Efon," the water Pokemon murmured in triumph, its voice muffled by the Pokeball. It was ready to bolt out of the room and after the cloaked enemy. Thrill crowded out any fear that might have blossomed in the creature in that moment. It was going to find its trainer! As it trotted toward the door, it happened to give the lighted altar one last glance before it left the dark room. And stopped. Something metallic glinted red and white against the fat candles' flames. Something familiar.  
  
Vaporeon paused, torn. Would the man get so far ahead it lost him? But investigating would only take a moment, and if the object was what it thought it was. . . .  
  
The Pokemon wheeled and loped up to the altar. There, amid a handful of tiny metal shapes strewn like confetti (perhaps some kind of tribute to whatever this shrine was built for?), a drawstring sack sat in the center of the shrine's flat surface. Vaporeon dropped its own Pokeball in excitement. The neck had opened slightly, and candlelight shone upon a smooth red and white sphere nestled inside. Its instinct had been right; it was a Pokeball!  
  
"Vap, vap, vap!" called the Eevee evolution, exuberantly swatting the sack off the structure with one paw. As the bag hit the floor, five sparkling Pokeballs rolled out, each one slowly spinning to a stop. An elated grin spread across Vaporeon's face. No more being the only Pokemon in this dangerous place!  
  
Lapras and Dewgong were too large to release in the room safely, plus they didn't travel over land very well. But the others had no such restrictions, and by following its nose Vaporeon was able to find Charizard, Raichu and Arbok. Three rapid flicks of its fish-like tail, and a well-known white light filled the room.  
  
"Char! C-charizard?" The massive fire lizard looked around the dark room—now made considerably lighter by the flames dancing at the end of its tail—in bewilderment. Raichu frowned, its tail lashing in agitation. Arbok hissed uneasily.  
  
"Vap vap vapor!" the water Pokemon cried, practically jumping up in down in its urgency to gain their attention. The other three Pokemon turned to stare as its story poured out in a stream of babble. The more it said the darker the looks of the fire, electric and poison Pokemon became, until finally it stumbled to a stop. Charizard let loose a low, dangerous growl.  
  
"Raichu!" exclaimed the large mouse, its cheek pouches sparkling in its anger. Arbok's hiss became malicious, revealing sharp fangs. The three creatures appeared so ferocious in their rage Vaporeon actually felt slightly uneasy, even knowing that they were on its side.  
  
Raichu, Arbok and Vaporeon looked to Charizard expectantly. Because it was Gobrianna's first Pokemon, the others being trained by the sixteen- year-old girl looked to it for leadership. Charizard cocked its horned head to the side as it considered its options. Weighing most heavily in its mind was the fact that its trainer was here somewhere, in enemy territory, alone and defenseless. But where? Who and what would four Pokemon have to go through to get to her? Also, would they be able to complete their escape after they rescued her? Where were they? Vaporeon had mentioned an island, but that didn't help very much. . . .  
  
At that moment, the Pokemon the fire lizard was thinking of let loose a plaintive whimper. Charizard, Raichu and Arbok turned to it and found the water Eevee gazing forlornly at one of its front paws. Something metallic was twined around the appendage.  
  
Charizard blinked, then again. Was that. . . ? "Zard!" summoned the fire Pokemon curtly. Vaporeon looked up and obediently trotted over, picking up its paw and offering it to the winged lizard. Charizard leaned down and gazed at what it now saw was a silver necklace with a broken chain. And not just any necklace. This was Gobrianna's! As Charizard continued to scrutinize the piece of jewelry its trainer was never seen without, Vaporeon explained where it had found it and how it had glowed faintly until the dark man had been near. What troubled the aquatic Pokemon was that it hadn't started glowing again now that the man was gone. Was it broken?  
  
Charizard snorted. It didn't think something like this could break. Impulsively it nudged the silver necklace with its snout. That got a reaction! Without warning the necklace blazed with life, brighter than an activated Pokeball. Charizard jumped back in surprise; the mark on its snout shone with the same silver light as the necklace! Almost immediately the light died, and the necklace likewise dimmed to almost nothing.  
  
"On!" yipped Vaporeon in delight. It looked at its leader gratefully. "Vapore vaporeon?" Could it do it again?  
  
Charizard scowled and shook its head, turning toward the door. Enough stalling, Gobrianna needed them now. The fire Pokemon was surprised to find that Arbok was already investigating the engraved exit. It had opened the door and the front half of its sinuous bulk disappeared into the hall. "Char!" announced the winged lizard.  
  
The front half of Arbok snapped back into the room, rearing up and spreading its multicolored hood. This Pokemon of Gobrianna's was especially crafty, known for its ability to trick and dupe its opponent. Its cunning had turned a battle more than once in the past. The poisonous snake shook its scaly head from side to side in a negative manner. "Chaaaaaaaaaarboka!" it retorted, telling its fellow Pokemon that if they openly attacked they would soon be outnumbered. Stealth was called for in this situation, not force.  
  
Charizard, who had been ready to recommend just such an assault, saw the sense in this and nodded grudgingly. It motioned with one claw for Arbok to go ahead and lead the way.  
  
As the snake, winged lizard and mouse quietly filed out into the hall, Vaporeon rolled the empty and not-so-empty Pokeballs back into the drawstring sack. Taking the bag in its mouth, the water Pokemon jogged out into the hall after the others. With Arbok in the lead, Charizard and Raichu plodding along side by side, and Vaporeon bringing up the rear, the four Pokemon made their way down the hallway until they came to a T-section where the hall branched left or right.  
  
"Chu, chu," Raichu suggested, pointing to each hall and then to the quartet of Pokemon. But Charizard shook its head. It was too dangerous to split up in this place. It told Arbok to turn right.  
  
Unfortunately, travelling with three more Pokemon didn't make the maze-like building any less confusing. They were lost within ten minutes. And the longer the Pokemon explored, the more wary Charizard became. Where were all the black-cloaked humans? They should have run across at least one by now. That was the reason the fire lizard had Arbok go first. The poisonous snake could use its Leer attack to paralyze an enemy before he could sound the alarm. Charizard could see the same concern on the other three Pokemons' faces.  
  
And that wasn't all. The longer they went without finding Gobrianna, the more the anxiety built in her first Pokemon. Vaporeon had said the dark man had left to get answers from her. That was at least fifteen minutes ago, as far as Charizard could tell. Was she all right? Where could she be? It was beginning to doubt she was even in the building, but Vaporeon seemed so sure. . . .  
  
"Bok!" exclaimed Arbok, in the lead. It slithered forward and raised the front half of its body into the air, spreading its hood as it did whenever it was surprised or agitated. Charizard tried to see around the violet serpent, but the hallway wasn't big enough.  
  
"Char zard!" it snapped. Arbok twisted itself around, flicked a forked tongue in the lizard's direction. Now it could see that what Arbok had discovered was a set of stairs made of golden oak. It gazed at them, eyes narrowed, as Vaporeon pushed its way to the front of the line.  
  
"Vafwore!" the water Eevee spoke around a mouthful of bag. "Fworeon!"  
  
Charizard shook its head as it rolled its eyes. All this time and they had only been investigating one floor of this place? Great. And they had lost too much time already. It was time to take a chance. "Char! Zard, izard char! Charizard zard char."  
  
The three other Pokemon nodded as one. They agreed; it was time for more drastic action. Arbok squeezed to the side of the hall, letting Raichu, Charizard and Vaporeon hurry down to the lower floor. As it watched, the fire Pokemon directed the electric mouse down one side hall, the water Eevee down another, and stomped through an open doorway itself.  
  
The poisonous viper hissed quietly to itself, then blatantly ignored Charizard's orders to finish exploring the upper level and coiled its way down the stairs. When the others found Gobrianna she would be guarded, it was sure. Which meant that they would need a fast getaway, or they would quickly be overpowered. Arbok was determined to find a way. A place like this would have many secret exits. How hard could it be to find one?  
  
* * *  
  
Raichu had found a mess hall, a training room, multiple private bedrooms, and what appeared to be some kind of dark chapel or temple. But no Gobrianna. Its long tail twitched anxiously as it made its way down one dimly lit hallway after the other. Time was ticking down, and all the Pokemon felt it. How big could a place like this be? Surely four Pokemon should have been able to scour the entire building by now.  
  
So lost was the electric mouse in its troubled thoughts that it failed to notice the voice until it was almost on top of it.  
  
A soft baritone male voice was muttering around the corner up ahead, and Raichu stopped to listen to the human's irritated tone. "Why do I always get the tedious chores? As if I have nothing better to do with my time. Of course, I could be running around outside preparing the ceremony like everyone else, but at least I wouldn't be bored out of my skull."  
  
Raichu snickered as it prepared to strike, feeling more like itself than it had since Vaporeon had released it into this madhouse. Finally, an open confrontation. No more quietly sneaking around, afraid of being spotted like some wimpy little Oddish. Raichu was a fiercely loyal Pokemon, and it preferred physical action to thinking its way out of a predicament. Now it was time to deal with the situation its way.  
  
The electric rodent dashed around the corner, leaping into view and spying a lanky young man in a rumpled black cloak, leaning against a thick wooden door with his arms crossed in font of him. His hood jerked up and he had enough time to utter, "Huh? What?" before Raichu attacked.  
  
"Rai!" The electric Pokemon whirled, lashing out with its tail. It caught the man just below the knees. He cried out, his mouth a round "o" of surprise, as the force of the blow threw him to the floor. His head smacked against the hard wood with a thud that made the Pokemon wince.  
  
Raichu tensed, waiting for the man's counterattack, but he didn't get back up. A faint groan escaped the crumpled form, and his head slumped to the side. Raichu stood proudly. Ha! Fainted with one hit! The electric mouse strode past the unconscious man and approached the door. Its fancy ears quivered as it picked up a voice coming from down below its brown- tipped feet.  
  
"—told you, I don't know! No—please—don't, I—" The young voice was cut off by the sharp crack of flesh on flesh.  
  
Raichu froze, every muscle locked. Its round black eyes snapped opened wide as a sweeping rage filled it. The fury blazed along every nerve, every synapse, in a red tide of passion. He was hurting her!  
  
"Raaaaaaiiiiiiiichuuuuuuuu!" screamed the Pokemon. Electricity streaked from its cheek pouches directly at the door, striking it full- force. It exploded into fragments of wood, showering the electric mouse as it blocked the larger chunks with its paws. The sound of irregular feet running down the hall pattered the air, and when the dust cleared Charizard and Vaporeon stood, staring in amazement.  
  
"Rai raichu! Chu!" seethed Raichu, pointing toward the broken doorframe. The other two Pokemon growled in anger, and without another word the three flew down the wooden stairs.  
  
What took place next seemed to happen all at once. A single oil-lamp illuminated the scene. The instant the two more powerful Pokemon hit the concrete ground together, they wheeled toward the tall man in black that stood at one end of the basement. He held Gobrianna by her upper arms; the sagging girl's face was cloaked in shadow. As Charizard and Raichu prepared to blast the man with their most powerful attacks, Vaporeon twined between them and leaped at the pair of humans. It hit Gobrianna heavily in the chest, knocking her back just as the Fire Spin and Thunder enveloped the man. He never made a sound.  
  
The oil-lamp sputtered, then went out.  
  
By the light of Charizard's burning tail the three Pokemon gathered around their trainer, gazing down with anxious eyes. The sixteen-year-old cracked open one of her own. The other was swollen shut.  
  
As Gobrianna recognized her trainees, a weak smile transformed her pained face. But it crumpled a moment later. She sat up and put her forehead on Charizard's shoulder. "He wouldn't stop," she sobbed into its neck. Her voice cracked. "I really didn't know, but he wouldn't stop." Charizard held her gently, seeing her bound hands. It rumbled angrily to itself and slashed the cords with its claws. The girl mumbled her thanks as she brought her freed hands in front of her, massaging her raw wrists.  
  
Vaporeon edged forward and nudged Gobrianna with its nose. "Vap?" it whimpered softly, and she reached down to pat it reassuringly.  
  
"I'm okay," she sniffed, scrubbing her wet face with her fist. "It's just. . . ." A shudder ran down her spine. "Never mind. What happened to, to Gileman?"  
  
Raichu bounded toward the smoking heap a few feet away. "Rai!" it called to her.  
  
The Pokemon trainer looked up, fear and hope warring on her bruised face. With Charizard's help she stood up and approached the smoldering pile. "Check it out, Charizard," she whispered. As her fire Pokemon obeyed, Gobrianna decided that without someone to hold her up the floor was a much nicer place.  
  
Vaporeon trotted up beside her. "Vafwore," it mumbled, dropping a small bag in her lap.  
  
She reached inside and a grin split her tired face. "My Pokeballs!" The sixteen-year-old fished them out and attached them to her belt, where they belonged. As she felt the familiar weight of the spheres around her waist, her hopes rose for the first time since her capture. Maybe they would make it out of this place safely.  
  
A gasp of pure awe escaped the girl's lips as she realized. "Six," she breathed, astounded. "I have all six back . . . but, but how?"  
  
Vaporeon barked happily, offering its front paw. Its trainer choked out another startled gasp. "The necklace!" she squeaked. As Vaporeon poured out its explanation, Gobrianna unwound the silver chain from the water Eevee's paw. When her fingers touched the broken links the faint glow intensified for a brief flash, and as the light faded she found the chain once again complete and whole. The Pokemon trainer murmured a word of thanks to the beings who were now battling for their very existence. She slipped the silver piece of jewelry over her head.  
  
Two muttering voices caught Gobrianna's attention. Charizard and Raichu. "What is it, guys?" she called over softly.  
  
The fire lizard turned toward its trainer. It held up the burnt garment that had belonged to Gileman. Gobrianna's brow furrowed; she didn't understand. Then it dawned on her: there was only the cloak. No body. The girl forced herself to stand up, ignoring the sharp aches that traveled through her frame. "Where's Gileman?" she demanded. Charizard and Raichu shook their heads.  
  
Gobrianna was suddenly short of breath. "We're leaving. Now," she announced, turning toward the stairs. A huge form was descending the stairs, blocking the light leaking down from above. Before panic could blossom, the girl recognized the shape.  
  
"Arbok?"  
  
"Chaaaar bok," the violet snake hissed in greeting. It coiled itself at the foot of the stairs, indicating upward with the end of its tail. With a smug glint in its eyes it reported that there was an exit to the building waiting for them.  
  
Gobrianna exhaled in relief. "Thank you, Arbok," she said. "We don't have any time to lose. Come on, everyone. Back into your Pokeballs."  
  
"Char!"  
  
"Chu?"  
  
"Vap vap!"  
  
"Boka."  
  
"Shh!" She held up a hand. "Arbok stays out because it has to show me the way, but the more of us that have to get out of here, the slower we'll go. And the more likely chance we'll be spotted. If I need protection I can call you out again, but for now this is the best chance we have of escape." The three other Pokemon weren't happy about it, but they couldn't argue with their trainer. They allowed Gobrianna to recall them into their Pokeballs.  
  
"All right Arbok, lead the way. Quietly."  
  
The poison Pokemon nodded once and slithered up the stairs, its trainer following. When they reached the top she cast an uneasy glance at the crumpled form on the floor, but when it gave no movement she turned away and hurried to keep up with her Pokemon.  
  
Arbok glided through the halls of the brick building without hesitation, a wary and determined expression on its reptilian face. It was leading its trainer to freedom, and it would not allow anything to mess this escape up. The Pokemon cast cautious glances down each hallway it came upon, satisfied that no one was in sight. The building did indeed appear to be empty. They traveled in silence, Arbok's ears pricked for any sound, Gobrianna striving to concentrate on the situation at hand. The episode with Gileman and her lack of food and sleep were catching up with her, and soon it was all she could do to put one foot in front of the other.  
  
A soft hiss alerted her that her Pokemon had found something. Arbok had paused in the middle of one of the wider hallways, no doors or doorways for at least twenty feet before and behind them. Gobrianna came up beside it. "What is it?" she whispered.  
  
Arbok gently pushed her aside with the tip of its tail. Then it slapped the wall where she had been standing.  
  
A small section of the paneling, a five-inch or so square level with Gobrianna's shoulder, indented as if Arbok had pushed a button. No sound of machinery or movement followed, just the scrape of the wall sliding against the wooden floor, revealing a dark space beyond. The Pokemon trainer gazed within uncertainly. There weren't any lights inside, but from the hallway's illumination she could tell that the narrow area was the wall space between this hall and the next, or a room.  
  
"I don't know, Arbok. Are you sure this is a way out?" She stepped back.  
  
The poisonous snake slithered forward and entered the crawlspace, folding its hood against itself to fit. As its violet tail disappeared into the darkness Gobrianna took a deep breath and followed. There was a small noise ahead of her, then the wall slid into place at her back, plunging the world into blackness. She put out her hands to each side to feel the wall as she walked. The sound of the Pokemon's body against the ground and her own quiet footsteps echoed in the tiny space.  
  
Arbok made its way through the confined tunnel as quickly as it could, listening to its trainer stumble through the dark. Knowing that she had more than enough on her mind already, it had failed to mention to her how it had found this escape route. She didn't need to know that it had spied a tall blond man with hard green eyes, clad only in a pair of shorts, use this very passageway. It could sense something dark about the man, something that would make Gobrianna afraid if she knew. And when it flicked out its tongue to taste the air, it smelled something strange about the man. Something that made it think of an Abra, but different. Darker. So, in the interest of successfully making it out of here alive, it kept the information from her.  
  
When Arbok had followed the man, to ensure that it was truly a way out, it had exited the accursed building in minutes and watched the man disappear into the woods. After that it had backtracked and headed in the direction he had come from, soon finding the destroyed door and unconscious young man. Judging from the previous trip, the Pokemon assumed they would come to the end of the passageway right about. . . .  
  
Now. Arbok's pointed snout brushed against a rough brick wall. It hissed a warning to Gobrianna, then reared back and slammed its skull against the thick bulwark. Ouch. But the wall slid open several inches from the impact. Arbok rammed it again. Several more inches. Again. A foot. Finally the Pokemon had forced a large enough gap to slither out into the open air. Its trainer came right after, blinking in the harsh light of the setting sun. The shocked amazement on her face told Arbok that she still didn't believe she was free.  
  
"We . . . made it." Her voice was hushed. "We made it. Arbok, we made it!" She threw her arms around her Pokemon's neck. Her elation seemed to have put her weariness on hold.  
  
Arbok hissed with pleasure. It didn't even mind when Gobrianna insisted that it return to its Pokeball. It didn't want to leave her, but the look of freedom on her face made it hard to object. Even if she hadn't been its trainer.  
  
As Arbok became a flash of red light, sucked into her last empty globe, Gobrianna's smile faded away. She was still in enemy territory, and she would have to travel quickly and quietly to find the shore. Then she could use Lapras or Dewgong and escape this nightmare once and for all.  
  
First off, where was she? She didn't see the front door or the vegetable garden she remembered in the dim light cast by the setting sun. All she saw was red brick and gray concrete, the side or back of the building perhaps. And although there was plenty of space between the fiery- leafed and needle-covered trees of the mixed wood to navigate through easily, there were no paths to tell Gobrianna where to go. She looked up. One side of the sky was painted a deep orange by the sunset. That would be west, then. Not that that did her much good. But Vaporeon had said this was an island, so which way would lead her to the shore faster? If she struck out aimlessly, would she just be heading further inland? How big was this island, anyway? As she pondered all this she leaned against the cold stone of the building, closing her eyes. Just a moment to rest and conserve her strength, then she'd pick a way to go. . . .  
  
"Hey, what are you—you!"  
  
Gobrianna's eyes flew open and she launched herself away from the wall with a startled shriek. She didn't even look to see who it was that had spoke. Instead she ran for all she was worth, diving into the forest without hesitation. Her exhaustion was just gone; terror burned it completely away. She was not going back there, not for anything. She would not let them take her again.  
  
Now shouts and the pounding of many feet sounded behind her, and she coaxed more speed from her legs, arms pumping to help. Darting through the trees, forcing her way through the sparse undergrowth, she ran for all she was worth. Her feet slipped on the carpet of leaves and needles covering the ground, but she couldn't slow. They were right behind her!  
  
Glancing back, she saw that at least three black-cloaked figures had given chase. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of them. If she had been thinking clearly, she would have called out her Pokemon to hold them off. But the only thing on Gobrianna's mind was the dark cellar of that building, and the cruel pleasure in his eyes as Gileman had interrogated her. She ran faster, seeing the end of the forest not far ahead. The beach would be—  
  
Gobrianna skidded to a halt, a cry of dismay amid her harsh panting. A vertical cliff rose up fifteen feet high in front of her, as if sheered into the island by a knife. Her head whipped to either side wildly as she looked for a way around, but the cliff curved in a wide, horseshoe-like shape. If she tried to go around, it would take too much time. They would catch her. She heard triumph in the shouts behind her, and understood that she was trapped.  
  
The girl's turquoise eyes narrowed as she glared at the cliff blocking her way, very aware that in seconds the pursuers would reach her. No. It wouldn't end this way. Her fingers flexed; there was only one thing to do. She took a breath and raced across the open space encircled by the curving cliff. It wasn't even that high really, maybe twice her own height. When she leapt with all her strength and dug her fingers into a shallow crack, her hands were scant feet from the top.  
  
The girl's feet scrabbled for purchase, finally finding a little projection, only big enough for the toes of one foot, that she used to boost herself higher. She stretched upward to search for another handhold. Just as her questing fingers found a tiny ledge, she felt a hand clamp around her ankle. She screamed and gripped the ledge with both hands as well as she could.  
  
"You're not getting away, girl. And those creatures of yours are going to die." Gobrianna knew that voice. It was Rodin. Another voice was shouting from the background, calling for more help as it neared, and that was Gileman. Somehow she was not surprised.  
  
The sixteen-year-old felt the man who had climbed up after her trying to pull her foot off the little protrusion. Because this was what was holding up most of her weight, she grit her teeth and did her best to hold on. But his grip was locked around her ankle like an iron shackle. Her fingers burned with pain at the pressure on them. She could feel every tiny imperfection in the rock under her fingertips. She couldn't hold on much longer.  
  
Before she slipped altogether, Gobrianna freed one hand and reached for her belt. Her fingers closed around the first of the life-filled spheres she felt, and with a grunt of effort she chucked it upward with an over-the-head toss.  
  
The brilliant white light shone down from above her, bathing the stone in brightness and chasing away the dark brought on by nightfall. Presently an uncertain voice ventured, "Rai?"  
  
"Raichu," she gasped out through clenched teeth. "Down here, hurry."  
  
Sounds of outrage and movement from below, but the Pokemon trainer forcefully blocked them from her mind. She turned her face to the sky as Raichu peered over the edge. "Rai!" exclaimed the electric mouse in horror.  
  
"Hurry—help m-ahhhh!" She shrieked as a violent tug on her ankle wrenched free her grip on the ledge. For a sickening moment Gobrianna was falling, plunging toward the people below. . . .  
  
And there was a desperate cry of, "CHU!" from above, and she felt something encircle her wrist and she jerked to a halt, crashing painfully into the side of the cliff. She glanced upward in amazement. Raichu's long tail encircled her wrist, and the Pokemon had dug its heels into the dirt and was doing all it could to hold on. Sweat poured from Raichu's forehead as it strained to pull its trainer up.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" yelled one of the black-clothed men below. He jumped and wrapped his hand around her calf.  
  
Gobrianna squeezed her eyes shut against the strain. She was being pulled in two! The black-haired man below, his hood blown back by his wild movement, sneered and grabbed her leg with his other hand as well. Above, Raichu squealed with its own pain. By sheer will alone it had been able to hold up its trainer, but there was no way the Pokemon could hold both humans.  
  
"Raichu!" howled the girl in desperation, tensing every muscle in preparation for what she was about to do. "Thundershock, now!"  
  
"Chu?"  
  
"Now!"  
  
"Chuuuuuuuuuuu!" The buzz of electricity filled the open air, and as the yellow light dazzled her eyes Gobrianna felt the voltage course through her body. She screamed, and over the sound heard the man's answering outcry as the power surged through him as well. The grip on her leg vanished. He fell. She would have followed, if not for the slim tail circling her wrist.  
  
No time to think about her aching body now. Gobrianna used her other hand and her feet to help propel her upward and over the ledge. She collapsed onto the packed dirt, breathing hard, eyes closed. Raichu nuzzled its prone trainer softly.  
  
She ordered her hands to push her up; she had to keep going. At first they wouldn't respond. Then, arms shaking, she managed to force herself into a semi-upright position. Raichu was sniffling quietly to itself. Causing its trainer pain had hurt it deeply.  
  
"It—all right—'chu," whispered Gobrianna harshly as she gasped for breath. Pushing a stray hair out of her face, hearing the crackle of static electricity as she touched it, the trainer mustered a grin for her Pokemon and patted it gently. "You—saved me. Thanks."  
  
"Chu," the large mouse sighed at her touch.  
  
"We have to—get away." Gobrianna filled her lungs with air. It gave her the strength to turn and look over the cliff's edge. In the shadow cast by the precipice there was no trace of the ones who had chased her. She was too exhausted to wonder where they had gone. Turning the other way, her tired grin brightened faintly at her fortune. Here, finally, was the sea! She had thought that she never wanted to see the ocean again, after what had happened before, but the gently lapping waves were such a welcome sight that they brought weak tears to her eyes. That water was her freedom.  
  
With a throbbing arm she drew forth two more Pokeballs from her belt. The first to spill its host onto the ground fell from nerveless fingers as the form of Lapras coalesced in the dim light. But the gentle Pokemon's large eyes were closed, its breathing slow and easy. It still slumbered from the tranquilizer the black-cloak had pumped it full of. Gobrianna recalled Lapras and threw her next Pokeball.  
  
The creature that formed this time was completely white, streamlined for cutting through rough water, with large flippers and a horn protruding from its forehead. "Gong?" toned Dewgong.  
  
"No time to explain, my friend," she sighed apologetically. "We'll need all your speed now." She thanked Raichu again before calling it back into its Pokeball, making sure all six red and white spheres were secure on her belt. She touched her silver necklace briefly as she stumbled to her feet, leaning heavily upon her other ice/water Pokemon. Together they slowly made their way to the water's edge. Luckily the cliff had a much gentler slope on the other side, or Gobrianna could have slipped and got to the water the hard way. The packed dirt became grainy sand as the water sloshed around the girl's ankles. The cold took her breath away. She ignored it as well as she could.  
  
Dewgong, on the other hand, plowed into the water like a Meowth kitten with a ball of yarn. It was an awkward creature on land, but it owned the cold waves of the ocean. This was where the creature was in its element, literally and figuratively. But noticing its trainers drooping eyelids, the seal-like Pokemon calmed itself and held still as she tried to climb onto its back. It wasn't until she found herself unable to summon the energy to make it over that she realized how bad off she really was. Dewgong boosted her on with its large tail fin, making sure she straddled its smooth back steadily before paddling out to the deeper water.  
  
Gobrianna leaned forward and threw her arms around her Pokemon's neck as far as they would go. "Dewgong," she breathed into its ear. "I can't keep my eyes open. . . . You have to make it to the Island. . . . Counting on you." And then there was silence from the human on the Pokemon's back.  
  
Dewgong kept one eye on the strip of land they had just left as it swam away from it with great thrusts of its tail. There was something bad about that place, and it was glad to leave. But that wasn't the only thing to worry about. Its trainer was weak and helpless now. It needed to get her some help. But where was the nearest Center for humans? Perhaps one of the wild Pokemon would know. . . . 


	4. The Seafoam Island

The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. III  
  
Destiny Fulfilled  
  
Chapter Four: The Seafoam Island  
  
By Shelli-Jo Pelletier  
  
***************  
  
Warmth. Gobrianna was finally warm. In her dream, the warmth was a visible thing, a golden cloud that gently encased her, swirling slowly. But outside that cloud, she could sense a battle raging full-strength. It whirled around her as if she were in the center of a tornado. She tried peering out through the golden haze, but her view was obscured. However, one thing seemed to be getting in. Voices.  
  
These voices alternately strengthened and faded away, overlapping so she had difficulty understanding. They hurled insults and compliments, threats and encouragement, hatred and love. They were the voices of everyone she had ever met in her lifetime. Gileman shouted in fury. Her mother promised her love forever. The member of Team Rocket she had met years ago laughed cruelly. Charizard roared in defiance. A wild Nidorina that had almost killed her on her Pokemon journey howled furiously. The voice of her father, dead twelve of her sixteen years, told her to be strong. One of the black-cloaked followers. Professor Skokie. Sable. Daniel. Rodin. Blu. A thousand others. And under them all, the deadly whispering voice of the Darkness and the intense multi-voice of the Eight argued and fought. And suddenly every voice was yelling, "Wake up!"  
  
Gobrianna caught her breath as she cracked open an eye. It was dark, and for a moment she thought she was back in Gileman's basement. Before the panic could take hold she realized that she was blissfully warm. Between the storm, the cellar and the cold ocean water, Gobrianna never wanted to be cold again. She realized she was in bed, under a pile of comfy blankets and quilts, with several sweatshirts over her T-shirt. Where was she?  
  
The room wasn't totally dark; a dim yellow light glowed somewhere off to the right. As her eyes adjusted she made out two figures sitting at a table in the center of the room. They sat across from each other, their faces turned downward, concentrating on something on the table. As she watched the one on the left stretched an arm across the table, picked something up, moved it, and set it back down. Then the arm retracted and they again stared down at the table. She blinked, tried it again, but still couldn't make out anything else. Was she still dreaming?  
  
When the girl tried to turn her head she discovered just how much pain she was in. Her brain exploded with the movement, temples throbbing in time with her heartbeat. Aches and bruises made themselves known. A groan escaped her lips.  
  
Sounds of movement. The Pokemon trainer froze, ignoring her protesting muscles. The yellow light slowly brightened until the room was well lit. At the same time a giant head came into her line of sight, leaning over her. She gulped as dark green eyes scrutinized her. It was a Dragonite!  
  
"Eh, back off now, Nite," a creaking voice spoke up from across the room. "Give 'er some room to breathe."  
  
The Dragonite obediently took a step back, but continued to gaze at her curiously. It was joined a moment later by an old man with a stooped back, walking with the aid of a cane. He was clean-shaven, his face a mass of deep wrinkles, with wiry white hair covering his head and half-circle spectacles. These he adjusted on his rather long nose, blinking owlishly. "Well now, seems yer awake."  
  
Gobrianna winced. "Yes, sir. Though I kinda wish I wasn't," she muttered as her headache increased. "How did I get here?"  
  
"Hold yer Ponytas, missy. First things first. How do you feel?"  
  
Doing her best to push the pain away, the girl gradually made it to an upright position. She looked around, seeing that her bed was tucked into the corner of a room slightly larger than a bedroom. The yellow light came from a shaded lamp sitting on a desk against the opposite wall. Upon the table, she now saw, sat a chessboard in the middle of a game. One chair—from its position, someone had been sitting and recently vacated it—accompanied the table. Nite took up most of the remaining room.  
  
The old man made a tsk-ing sound as she observed her surroundings, handing her a mirror. The girl gazing back at Gobrianna was in sorry shape. Her limp copper hair was a disaster, her face pale and unsmiling. A nasty shiner circled her left eye. She sighed as the man handed her a glass of water and two white pills. "Aspirin," he answered her unspoken question. She gulped them down gratefully.  
  
"I'll live," she said. "Nothing broken. But please, how did I end up here? Who are you?"  
  
"Ah, that's quite a tale, missy." The old man pulled up the chair and sank into it. "I was all set to head out ice fishin' yesterday mornin', had just stepped out the door you see, when this great white shape comes a- 'urdlin' up out of the sea. It's a Dewgong, so it is. And what be on its back but a 'uman girl, 'alf-drowned and unconscious. Sose I take the girl and dry 'er off and tuck 'er into bed and she sleeps the whole day and night away, she does. Not 'til noon the next day and she opens those eyes of 'ers, and 'ere you are!"  
  
The aspirin was already taking effect. As her head cleared she nodded slowly. The man continued, "I'm Jason Winterfield, and this 'ere be Nite—" The Dragonite wiggled its feelers like a person might wave hello. "—And yer on one of the Seafoam Islands, you are."  
  
Gobrianna jumped, and instantly regretted it. "The Seafoam Islands! Then Dewgong did make it!" A smile finally lit her bruised face.  
  
"So it did, so it did," Jason agreed. "It's outside now, it is. Couldn't fit in the 'ouse, you know."  
  
Relief washed over her. Those followers . . . she had been afraid she would never see her Pokemon again. "Good," she breathed, testing her body as she pushed herself upright. It ached, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, she decided. "Oh, excuse me, sir. My name is Gobrianna."  
  
Jason looked at her with one bushy eyebrow raised, but she dismissed his concern with a wave of her hand. "I look worse than I feel," she assured him. "Please don't let me interrupt your game."  
  
Nite apparently agreed, because it turned back to the table as soon as the words left her mouth. Jason was less quick to concede. He stared at her for a moment, then gripped his cane and shuffled out of the room. The Dragonite looked up from the board in surprise, turning to Gobrianna. When she shrugged it snorted in reply. She couldn't guess what the noise was supposed to express. Then Nite sat down on its own tail as if it were a chair, turning to the board and studying it.  
  
Jason was soon back, which was good because she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. The man had a plate of something steaming in one hand.  
  
"Food!" the trainer exclaimed, blushing at her outburst but not caring. She was starving! She couldn't even remember the last time she had had a meal.  
  
As she took the plate (a bit of ham, mashed potatoes and a soft dinner roll she noticed before she began shoveling) Jason sank into his chair. "Yer turn, Nite," he reminded his Pokemon companion.  
  
Nite made an "I already knew that" noise, reaching toward one of the pieces. Deciding that she was well enough to move off the bed, Gobrianna stood up and made her way unhurriedly to the table. When Jason pointed to the stool tucked under the desk she pulled it out with one hand and took a seat.  
  
The chessboard was interesting; she had never seen one quite like. It was hand-made she realized, when she saw the roughly carved and painted chess pieces. The sixty-four squares were alternately black and pale blue, the thirty-two pieces spread throughout the board telling her they'd been at it awhile. She watched as Nite's brown Pidgey, which seemed to be a pawn, attacked diagonally and took Jason's light green Weedle. She smiled at the inappropriate coloring, but figured it was just so they could identify what the piece was. The Weedle appeared to also be a pawn. Nite also had light green Caterpie, and Jason had brown Spearows. From their number she decided there were two different kinds of pawns for each side.  
  
Ah, now she was getting it. Color did distinguish between the different types. And with the exception of the two kings and queens, which were all purple Nidokings and Nidoqueens, each side had different Pokemon of the same type for each type of piece. She watched Jason counter with a dark green Victreebel, moving three spaces diagonally, and guessed it must be the bishop. Which meant Nite's dark green Venusaur must be a bishop as well.  
  
She watched for a while, soon figuring it out. Jason's knights were the two red Rapidashs, while Nite's were red Charizards. And the rooks were blue Blastoise for Nite and Golducks for Jason. Not having played chess since she was little, Gobrianna couldn't really remember more than the names of the pieces and where they went, but the more she watched the more it came back to her. The two players reminded her of old men playing in a park. They poured all their attention into their game, seeming to forget she even existed. And to her surprise, Nite was in the lead. She would have thought the Pokemon couldn't keep the complex rules in its mind long enough to successfully play such a game, but it seemed to be doing well.  
  
An indiscernible time later Nite sat back on its tail and triumphantly hooted. Jason sighed. The Dragonite's Rapidash and Nidoqueen had cornered the human player's Nidoking. Checkmate.  
  
Gobrianna had long since set aside the empty plate. She stretched her stiff muscles carefully, as the two players woke up from the hypnotic attention of the game. "Oh, well now, that was quite a match, it was," murmured Jason, somewhat regretfully. "I'll 'ave to beat you next time, Nite." Ignoring the Pokemon's look that clearly said, "Yeah right," the old man turned to the girl as if just remembering her. "G'brianna now, wasn't it? I see yer done. Still 'ungry?"  
  
Before Gobrianna could reply, the pattering of little feet approached and the only door in the room was thrown open as a small figure ran into the room. "Oh, she's awake! Who is she, Grandpa? What happened?"  
  
It was a little girl, eight or nine Gobrianna guessed. She had hair slightly longer than shoulder-length, a light spring green in color, with ice-blue eyes and a sweet round face. "This 'ere be G'brianna, 'Olly. I dun rightly know what 'appened to 'er. Perhaps you could enlighten us?"  
  
It took a moment for Gobrianna to realize Jason was talking to her. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was on a ship bound to the Seafoam Islands, but I was washed overboard by a freak storm. Thankfully I had my Pokemon with me, and we eventually made it."  
  
She made no mention of the dark island of followers, of course. She knew that if she did either no one would be able to find it, or those who did would be seriously hurt. The Darkness played for keeps.  
  
Chances were it was even one of the islands that made up the Seafoam chain. There were quite a number of the tiny islands spread out over fifty miles of open ocean. Their climates ranged from the ice-covered wasteland she was currently on to sunny paradises fit for dream vacations. Mostly wild ice and water Pokemon inhabited these islands, but if a small group of people wanted to disappear this would be one of the best places in the world to do it. The police could search for years and never find the exact island the black-clad followers lived on. And that was only if she could get them to believe her.  
  
Holly was gaping at her in open admiration. "Wow!" the little girl gushed. "You're so brave!"  
  
Jason was less enthusiastic. One of his bushy white eyebrows lifted inquisitively. "Must 'ave been some storm, missy, to rough you up so badly."  
  
Gobrianna avoided eye contact with the man. "Yeah, quite a storm," she agreed quietly. Then there was silence, until the old man shuffled out of the room. Nite followed.  
  
Holly, not noticing the uncomfortable exchange, plopped into her grandfather's empty chair. "Were you scared?" she asked breathlessly.  
  
Gobrianna turned to her. "Yeah." She realized that she was now alone with the girl.  
  
"I would be, too," admitted Holly, upon reflection. "And your Dewgong rescued you right out of the water?"  
  
"Yup," she answered distractedly. The Pokemon trainer was busy wondering how she could tell Jason that she had to leave, that she had somewhere important to be right now.  
  
"Lucky you," the little girl muttered. Gobrianna blinked and she focused on her, surprised at her sudden change of tone. Holly was perched on the edge of the chair, legs pulled up to her chest, staring down at her knees.  
  
"What's wrong?" the copper-haired teenager asked gently.  
  
Holly glanced at her through her curtain of emerald hair. "It's not fair." She spoke quietly, talking to her knees. "I wish something exciting happened to me. I wish I could have Pokemon, but no one will let me. 'You're too young,' they say."  
  
Gobrianna shook her head, suppressing a smile that wouldn't make the girl feel any better. "You don't want that kind of excitement, trust me. And you'll be old enough soon."  
  
"Soon isn't good enough!" pouted Holly. "I can't even see Pokemon. The wild ones are too shy, and all the trainers tell me to go away. It's not fair! By the time I'm old enough to go there won't be anything interesting left to find." She tried to hide the hand that rubbed across her face, but Gobrianna saw anyway. This was something serious to the young girl.  
  
A thought occurred to Gobrianna. "Well then, you'll just have to believe," she said simply.  
  
Holly's head picked up. She stared at the older girl inquisitively. "Believe in what?"  
  
"Believe in mystery, fantasy, the unexplained. Believe that somewhere out there there's something that nobody's seen before, and that you will find."  
  
Now she was staring at her as if she was insane, and Gobrianna grinned, realizing she probably sounded foolish. "It sounds stupid maybe, but it's true. Nobody believes anymore, and that's why nothing new and interesting has been found. You have to believe, to see."  
  
Holly's eyes unfocused, her thoughts far away. Gobrianna waited with infinite patient. This was a test, to her. There weren't enough believers of fantasy, the Eight had always told her. If she could get this one girl to open up and at least consider her words, maybe she could turn others around too. Maybe she was on the right track.  
  
In a few moments she had her answer. Holly gave her a small, cautious grin. "I thought the expression was, 'Seeing is believing.'"  
  
A corresponding grin spread across Gobrianna's face. Success! Even if the girl wasn't totally convinced, she had still managed to bring her out of her gloom for a little while. "Whoever made up that had it backwards."  
  
"Have you ever seen something unexplainable?" countered the green- haired girl, still smiling.  
  
"You bet. There are fantastic things happening every day, all around us."  
  
"Will you tell me about some of them?"  
  
"Of course! Why, some of the basic laws of the Pokemon are unexplainable. How does a Magnemite float, for example? And why—" The sound of someone clearing his throat interrupted her.  
  
Gobrianna looked up, surprised. Jason and Nite stood in the doorway. The old man and the Dragonite were smiling, and she wondered just how long they had been standing there.  
  
"I thought you might like a 'ot shower, missy," Jason told her, offering a fluffy white towel and a thick robe. "After that water and all, I suspect you must be pretty chilly. Ocean's no place fer swimmin' this time of year."  
  
"No, sir," she agreed gratefully. She stood, the cold floorboards making her wince. (Where were her shoes? Nah, ask later.) Taking the offered things from the old man, she detached the belt with her six Pokeballs from her waist. The trainer held it out to him. "My Pokemon have been through a lot lately," she said, her face serious. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you bring them to the nearest Pokemon Center?"  
  
Jason nodded graciously and accepted the belt. "I'll send Nite to the Center on the edge of town," he assured her. The Dragonite likewise nodded, eagerly swishing its tail.  
  
She felt much better as Jason pointed the way and she headed for the bathroom. She heard Holly call out, happy once again, that she would go get Dewgong. Gobrianna shut the door. Turning the knobs of the tub produced a jet of water from the showerhead, icy at first. But soon steam was clouding the mirror above the little sink. She slipped into the hot water with a shuddering sigh and allowed the fierce pressure to pound the dark memories out of her.  
  
Twenty minutes later, the girl shut off the hairdryer and glanced in the mirror one last time. Her bruises were just as pronounced as ever—she had noticed they ran up and down her arms and legs as if she had been sparring with a Geodude—but at least she felt somewhat normal. Her hair was in order, her skin a healthy pink, and her mind clear. As soon as Charizard and the others had finished their rest, she would set out and find the person the Eight had told her about. She had some time, but had better not delay any longer than she had too. When the followers of the Darkness figured out where she went, they'd waste no time coming after her.  
  
Gobrianna eased open the bathroom door and padded in stocking feet down the hall, back toward the room she had woken up in. She was about to announce her presence when she heard the low murmur of conversation coming from the room across the hall, and identified Jason's creaking voice. Not wanting to interrupt, the girl quietly stood in the doorway without a word.  
  
The old man sat with his back to her, speaking into a view screen with a telephone in one hand. On the screen a person garbed in white was talking.  
  
"—The symptoms you describe, I'd say something traumatic occurred which she has blocked from her conscious memory. It may be serious. I'm going to have to ask that you hold the girl there until I can send someone to retrieve her. We'll give her a thorough examination, and in the meanwhile we'll contact the authorities. They can get in touch with her family. Thank you Mr. Winterfield, and—"  
  
Gobrianna, stunned, didn't hear anything more. She backed away from the doorway until Jason wouldn't be able to spot her if he turned around, then just stood there as her mind kicked into overdrive. The man in white must be from a hospital. There weren't any on this Island, which meant that they would have to cross over by boat or plane, probably from one of the other Islands, or Cinnabar or Fuchsia City. That gave her a little time, but not much. She'd have to leave now, or Jason would keep her from going. And by the time she got out of the hospital and from under her mother's eye the Darkness would be done battling and be free to come after her. She didn't even have time to stop at the Pokemon Center for her Pokemon—  
  
Move. Now. Gobrianna sprinted down the hall as silently as she could, quickly spotting the front door. It wasn't a large house. Hanging from several pegs and hooks by the door was various snow gear, which she grabbed without hesitation. A fleece-lined parka went on over the two sweatshirts, snow-pants pulled over her jeans, heavy rubber boots, thick gloves and a hat to cover her ears. All of it was too big for her, but she didn't care. She didn't have time to care!  
  
Thinking she heard movement coming from one of the rooms, the girl fumbled for the doorknob and yanked. Immediately frigid air swirled around the little foyer space. She was afraid somebody would notice, so she stumbled outside and pulled the door closed. She had to get out of sight, and quick.  
  
Gobrianna scanned the landscape as she picked a direction and started to jog. As it was all year round, this Island was encased in the freezing cold of snow. A blanket of white covered the ground and the roofs of the dozen or so small homes in sight. She wasn't sure how large the town was but she could pretty much bet that by the time she made it to the Pokemon Center, Jason would have discovered her escape and called to warn them. So that was out. There was no sign of Dewgong, so Holly must have already taken it over.  
  
The snow sank up to her ankles as she headed deeper inland. This wasn't the only town on the Island, but all of them were clustered around the shore, near seaports. If she wanted to hide she had better head for the long mountain range that ran along the center of the island. Besides, whatever was hiding here that she had to find wouldn't hang around the populated areas.  
  
So Gobrianna continued to stride through the powder, kicking up the soft whiteness in front of her with each step. Plumes of her breath floated on the still air, only to disappear in a moment. Her steps and her breath made the only sounds in the stillness. The scenery was so different from what she was used to, and her mind so occupied by her thoughts, that at first she hardly noticed the cold. She glanced back every couple of steps, waiting to see if anyone came looking for her, but the small town was lost in the landscape before any movement caught her eye. Now it was whiteness behind her and whiteness before, and the only reason she could tell she was making headway was the beginning of a gentle incline under her feet.  
  
This land wasn't just a flat, barren wasteland, she soon discovered. It rolled with hummocks and hollows, all covered with the glistening blanket of snow. Scraggly pines with few needles clung to life every now and then, more often when there was some form of protection from the cold wind. The ground was hard and solid under her feet, as if she walked on rock, and even though she slipped more than once, the going wasn't too bad.  
  
At first Gobrianna thought about the being that the Eight told her to find. Was he truly here, somewhere? Charizard had seemed so sure that that was what the silver beings had said. This Island. But where? And whom did they mean? A human? A Pokemon? Something else entirely? How would she know where to go? How would she know this being when she saw him? So many questions. All she knew for sure was that there was somebody she had to find on this Island, and then he would bring fantasy back to the world.  
  
As the cold began to seep past her winter clothing, Gobrianna's mind turned to the fact that she had no food or shelter in this unforgiving environment. If she didn't find who she was looking for in a couple of hours, she was going to be in serious trouble. She couldn't go back to the town. Of course, she could always get her Pokemon to ask the local—drat! She had forgotten they were still at the Pokemon Center. A bit of anxiety settled in the pit of the girl's stomach. A Pokemon trainer without his or her Pokemon was like a fish out of water, uncomfortable and at a serious disadvantage.  
  
Now the cold was starting to get to her, and she wrapped her arms around her body to hold in as much warmth as she could. That hot shower was a distant memory now. Icy crystals of snow had crept into the oversized boots, and a small wind had kicked up. It blasted her face and seemed to cut right through her protective clothing to the bone. Her ears, fingers and toes stung with the cold.  
  
Pausing and glancing around for some form of cover, Gobrianna could only find more white-covered ground below and blue sky above. The wind blew harder. She swallowed nervously. This wasn't turning out exactly as she had planned. Not that she had really planned this.  
  
"And I was hoping to never be cold again, t-too," she muttered, worried when she heard her teeth chattering on the last word. She looked up, saw that the weak afternoon sunlight was not going to be strong enough to keep her from freezing, and resolutely began to walk again. If nothing, the exertion would keep her a little warmer.  
  
She was just entering the base of the mountains now, and the ground was beginning to grow steeper. Gobrianna bit her lip as something inside her whispered to be brave. Somehow she knew she was heading in the right direction. Now if she could only get there before she froze.  
  
* * *  
  
Cold. So cold. So cold the world was nothing but ice and snow and sleet and white and endless, endless frigid apathy. Desperation was a constant companion to the lone, motionless figure on the mountain. Never in all her life had Gobrianna ever felt so alone. The Eight couldn't help her, nor the OPL. All her Pokemon were too far away and her mother didn't know where she was, if she even knew she was alive. And she was cold. So, so cold as she lay in the deep white powder on the ground. So cold her teeth were beyond chattering. She wasn't even shivering anymore. She just felt very tired, very sleepy. . . .  
  
Snap out of it! she snarled in her mind, because her lips weren't responding. She sent a curt command to her legs to pull her up out of the cold snow and stagger on. Soon she would find something. A family of Psyducks maybe. Yeah, they could take her deep into the mountain, to a secret hot spring that had never before been discovered. Or a Slowpoke would come meet her, and use its psychic powers to keep her from freezing. Maybe a Zubat flying overhead would see her and get someone. A Shellder could poke up out of the snow. Or a giant Kingler! It could warm her . . . somehow. There had to be something out here other than the endless, endless white. . . .  
  
Gobrianna didn't know how long it took her to figure out she wasn't going anywhere, but it seemed like forever. Apparently her legs were being just as unresponsive as her mouth. She was in deep trouble. Fear coursed through the girl, but the sensation seemed to come from far away, as if it was happening to some other Pokemon trainer caught in the freezing snow on an unknown mountain alone on one of the Seafoam Islands without her Pokemon—  
  
Stop it! she mentally screamed. Get up and move or you're going to freeze to death! Wait, why was she here again? Her mind felt kind of fuzzy. Was she . . . looking for something? Some . . . one? Maybe, but why . . . .  
  
Her spacey thoughts made a few feeble connections, sparking at the memory of eight silver beings surrounding her. She was . . . was . . . the Chosen of the Eight!  
  
A soft silver illumination entered her vision, and without looking down she knew it was her necklace, glowing and giving her strength. Somehow she forced her appendages to obey and shove her upright, the snow clinging to her face and body. It didn't hurt to move; as a matter of fact, she couldn't really feel anything, like she was encased in a rubber suit that blocked all tactile sensation except for that cold-that-was-beyond-all- cold. . . .  
  
The next thing she knew she was moving, albeit very slowly. Her thoughts were still hazy, but the silver necklace shone true, its light pointing straight ahead. Gobrianna shuffled on, as she had been doing for hours, following the direction the necklace told her to go. By now she was horribly lost in the mountain chain that ran through the center of the Island. Horribly lost . . . never to see Charizard or Vaporeon or the Eight or Blu or her mother ever again. Her mother. . . .  
  
As if sensing her plunging courage, the silver glow around her neck faded, and with it her brief strength. Gobrianna sank to knees in the soft powder. A wind swirled a few freshly falling flakes into her long copper hair, and if she had the strength the Pokemon trainer would have cried. She had made it so far, but she didn't think she could last much longer. . . .  
  
A faint sound interrupted her silent lament. It was the ringing of crystal on crystal, of wind chimes on a breezy day, or someone striking the triangle at the end of the symphony. Gobrianna struggled to raise her heavy head. Her turquoise eyes took in the view, the icy crags rising in front of her, the wide gaps in the gray stone where the strong wind was getting to her. She titled her head up, noticing the low clouds that the snow was just beginning to fall from. All this she saw, before she finally realized where the crystalline sound was coming from. With the dregs of her energy her eyes widened in amazement. A cave?  
  
On hands and knees, the girl painstakingly struggled toward it as a man struggles through the desert toward a distant oasis. That cave was her sanctuary, her salvation. The snow began to fall in earnest as she crept closer and closer. Now the temperature dropped a degree or two as the shadow of the rocky crag fell over her. Now the wind was cut off as the mouth of the cave towered over her. Now Gobrianna collapsed on the ice floor, breathing heavy but a frozen smile cracking her lips. She had made it!  
  
The crystal sound came again, like an icicle striking a chain-link fence. In the small space it was much louder, echoing off the frozen walls until it overlapped and sounded like a concert of chimes. Not having the strength to pick up her head, she turned her face toward the back of the cave.  
  
There was nothing there. A solid sheet of ice was the back wall of the cave, about ten feet back. It appeared as if the cave was really nothing more than a crack in the rocks, the walls closing in as they rose until they met at the ceiling, forming the roof. No other tunnels or cracks large enough to get through presented themselves to the tired girl. It was just an empty space, but Gobrianna was very happy to be there.  
  
After several more minutes of resting, she felt her energy had returned enough to push herself upright, which she did. It wasn't exactly warm in here, but it was a lot better than being out there in the wind and snow. She had heard somewhere that it was the wind-chill that actually froze a person. She found no reason to doubt it. With slow movements the sixteen-year-old brushed the snow from her hat and shoulders, working her way down her body until she was satisfied with the results. The short activity exhausted her, and she slumped against the wall to watch the snow fall outside the cave in a silent veil of white.  
  
Gobrianna wasn't wearing a watch, but she was sure at least half an hour passed as she sat there and rested, conserving her strength. The snow continued to fall with its whispery quietness. It piled up at the entrance, but the cave was deep enough for her to remain untouched. She watched the heavy clouds creep across the blue sky. It wasn't a snowstorm, thank goodness. It was just a clump of snow-laden clouds passing by. Happened all the time on this Island, even in July. That was why ice Pokemon found it such a great haven.  
  
Maybe when it stops I'll start out again, she thought bleakly. The notion sent a shiver of horror down her spine. She didn't want to go back out there for anything, but she didn't have any food or things to make a fire with either. If she didn't leave eventually she'd die. Still, maybe it'd be better to wait until morning. The sun would be setting in a few hours she guessed, and it was doubtful she could find any other shelter before it got so cold her trek so far would seem like a jaunt.  
  
"I guess I'm going to be here for a while," she sighed.  
  
The crystalline sound came again, just after the words left her lips, and she was sure it came from the back of the cave. Gobrianna whipped her head around—  
  
—and her jaw hit the floor.  
  
The creature stood there, although no being of such size could have possibly entered without her notice, and completely stole the Pokemon trainer's breath away. It was so full of majestic beauty, such awe- inspiring elegance, that she simply stared silently.  
  
It stood on the ice floor of the cave, gazing at her calmly with crimson eyes full of intelligence, barely ten feet away. Because she was sitting it towered over her, but she could tell they were about the same height. Gleaming blue feathers shimmered in the fading sunlight that leaked into the cave. Glossy wings—its wingspan was wider than she was tall—were folded at its sides. It long, luxurious tail fell behind it like a radiant stream of bright blue water, and three feathers formed a crest on the top of its head. It was instantly recognizable, but Gobrianna still couldn't believe her eyes. No one had reported ever seeing this creature since before she had even been born.  
  
Her mouth worked up and down a few times, but no sound emerged. The sapphire bird cocked its head curiously. She didn't know how long time was suspended as they stared at one another like this. It was a beautiful, magical experience. Her mind had totally ceased to function. She had no thoughts as she looked upon the creature, only held the magic of their encounter in her heart. It warmed her more than the shelter and protective clothing did. A fantasy story come to life.  
  
Even when it took a step toward her, Gobrianna didn't move. Still transfixed with wonder, she could only continue to stare as the legendary bird known as Articuno slowly came closer and closer. When it was a single step away—so close she could have reached out and touched the shining feathers—it stopped and opened its gray beak. The crystalline sound emerged, echoing off the icy walls.  
  
The girl jumped. Unconsciously, her hand darted to her neck and drew out her silver necklace. She clutched it for comfort. As always, it reassured her.  
  
It also got an unexpected reaction from the bird. It jerked its head around to better see the gleaming thing in her grip, its red eyes focusing uncannily. Then it shuffled back a few feet, fluffed its bright feathers and opened its beak again. "So, you're the one the Eight sent."  
  
If Gobrianna was shocked before, she was dumfounded now.  
  
Articuno's voice was like the chiming of crystal bells, and it was so beautiful part of her ached to hear it again. "Well, are you or aren't you?" it demanded. "Answer me."  
  
"I-I am," stuttered Gobrianna, her voice squeaking, "the Chosen of the E-eight." Being in the presence of such radiance made her words awkward and clumsy.  
  
Articuno nodded. "Thought so. The gift gives you away. Then again, that was the idea I suppose." This said, it began to preen the snowy feathers on its breast, keeping an eye on her warily. She returned the cautious stare as all the legends she had ever heard about the bird surfaced in her mind. They said Articuno only appeared to people doomed on mountaintops, about to die of overexposure. Was she really that bad off? Was this the last sight granted to her before she sunk into the oblivious cold for good?  
  
Articuno finished its task and straightened. As if reading her thoughts, it grumbled, "I usually don't appear to humans. You're a very annoying species. As a matter of fact, I was about to chase you out my cave when I recognized your gift. Lucky you. I suppose you'll want to stay until morning."  
  
Gobrianna nodded dumbly, wondering how it knew about the Eight. The bird heaved a sigh and turned as if to leave—although there was no exit at the back of the cave. "Fine. But at first light I want you gone. And keep your mouth shut about seeing me. The last thing I need is tourists."  
  
Despite its attitude, she felt she had to be polite to this wonder as she found her voice. She couldn't let this miracle leave her! "Wait, please. I have lots of questions. Why can you talk?"  
  
Heaving another irritated sigh, Articuno turned back. "Why can you?" it snapped.  
  
"I'm human."  
  
"And I'm Articuno." By its tone, this was suppose to be the end of the conversation, but Gobrianna wasn't done yet.  
  
"You're also a Pokemon," she pointed out.  
  
Articuno's crested head rose proudly. "Not just any Pokemon, human. I am the legendary bird of ice.  
  
"But there's no legends about a talking Pokemon."  
  
"That's because I chose to keep some things out of the legends. They're about me, I have the right to."  
  
The Pokemon trainer shrugged. She supposed the bird was right, but did it have to be so obnoxious about it?  
  
"Is that all, your majesty? May this humble servant leave your presence?" Crystal voice dripping with sarcasm, the ice Pokemon made a mock bow and extended its beautiful wings. The tips brushed against either side of the icy walls.  
  
Gobrianna didn't want it to leave. She asked what she had been wondering. "How do you know about the Eight?"  
  
Articuno rolled its red eyes. "I am a Pokemon, human. As I'm sure you know, all Pokemon have an element of fantasy in them. It is one of the prime things that link the Eight to this world. I am one of the stronger links. Because of this, I have certain skills that other Pokemon do not. My speech is one of them. My knowledge is another. And I have others—but I'm not going to explain them to the likes of you, human."  
  
Gobrianna continued to ignore its snide tone. Her ears perked up. "Knowledge? Then you must know!" Excitement entered her voice. "The Eight sent me to find someone. He's somewhere here on this Island, but I don't know where else to look. He's important, he can bring fantasy back to the world. And I have to find him before the followers of the Darkness get here and find me . . . what is it?"  
  
Articuno was almost doubled over, trembling as if it was terrified with eyes tightly shut. At first Gobrianna was concerned, but as the tinkling of little bells broke in the cold air she realized that the Pokemon was laughing! "Stupid human!" the ice being chortled. "Don't you get it? I'm the one the Eight sent you to find!"  
  
Gobrianna blinked. Blinked again. "Oh." This hadn't occurred to her. The blue bird continued to chuckle as she struggled to piece everything together. "You mean . . . you're the one who can bring fantasy back?"  
  
Articuno's laughter faded and it shrugged its wings in an uncaring manner. "Of course. Who's more fantastic than I am? Well, the other legends are just as wondrous, I suppose."  
  
"Then why did the Eight send me to find you?"  
  
"How should I know?" snapped the Pokemon. "None of my business, any of it. As a matter of fact, I don't want anything to do with this. I don't owe the Eight any favors. So if you'll excuse me, human, I grow tired of sitting here looking at you. I'm leaving."  
  
"Wait!" Gobrianna struggled to her feet, leaning against the icy wall of the cave for support. She didn't exactly know how the ice Pokemon was going to leave, but she had no doubt it could if it wanted to. She had to convince it to stay and listen to her! "You have to help the Eight!"  
  
"And why is that?" Articuno sounded amused.  
  
"Because if the Darkness wins the Eight will be destroyed, and all Pokemon will die too!"  
  
"The Darkness isn't going to win. The Eight aren't going to win. They all have held their own against each other as long as they've existed. It's a balance. I wouldn't expect you to understand, human." Suddenly it glared at her furiously. "And I am sick of listening to you prattle! Now be quiet and let me leave!" The Pokemon began to stalk by her, opening its magnificent wings as if to take off.  
  
Taken aback, the Pokemon trainer was shocked into silence. But she couldn't let the bird leave. As it was about to pass her she pushed herself away from the wall and stood in front of it, blocking the entrance of the cave. Seeing the sharp gray beak was inches from her throat, she swallowed hard and quickly announced, "You're the one who doesn't understand, Articuno. You don't know what I've been through to get here, and you don't know the things that I do. I know what the world is like these days. I know everything the Eight have told me is true. I know, and you don't."  
  
She didn't know how she expected the creature to respond, but it certainly wasn't with a small chuckle and a simple nod of its crested head. "Ah, so you do have a backbone, human. I was hoping the Eight hadn't made a mistake and Chosen someone with no spirit. You're right, of course. I don't know. I chose to distance myself from the humans a long time ago, and because of that there are a few specific gaps in my extensive banks of knowledge. Why don't you fill me in?"  
  
A pleased and surprised smile broke over Gobrianna's lips. She suddenly realized she had passed Articuno's test without even knowing she was being tested! "My name's Gobrianna."  
  
Articuno nodded. "Tell me your story then, Gobrianna."  
  
So she did. She started when her father died, and how she had decided to become a Pokemon trainer. How she had started her journey when she was ten, with Charmander, and finished it three years later with her faithful Charizard. She told of her first meeting with the Eight and all they had told her, and of every meeting she had had with them since. Finally she related the last encounter with the beings, the battle that she had seen begin, and her adventure to the Seafoam Islands, concluding with her trek into the mountains. Long before she was done she was sitting on the ice floor once again, but the fact that she had convinced the feathered Pokemon to listen to her warmed her enough to keep the chill away.  
  
Articuno asked no questions and made no comments as she told her tale, still as a statue of ice. But she knew it was absorbing the information, learning how the world had developed without its presence. When she fell silent it fluffed its gorgeous feathers and trilled softly. "The world has become an inferior place without fantasy," it sighed.  
  
"Why did you leave?" Gobrianna wanted to know. "You must have guessed something like this would happen."  
  
Articuno shifted from one gray leg to another. It didn't appear to be a nervous movement, as it was whenever Gobrianna did it, but more like something to do while thinking. "I was much younger then. Humans who saw me felt blessed, and Pokemon came to me from all over to ask advice on their most important matters. The humans tried to capture me, of course. I even allowed one to, long, long ago. A scientist who only wanted to gather information about me and then returned me to the wild. That is why there is data on the legendary Pokemon in your Pokedex, Gobrianna. We allowed ourselves to be studied because we wanted humans to remember what fantasy was and what it meant to them. Well, most of us anyway.  
  
"But after a while the fantasy leaked out of the experience. More and more humans sought us out only to be captured, not to be admired. The Pokemon all but forgot our importance. And so, one by one, we left to find places where no one would bother us. I was the first. Humans meant the least to me; I had been betrayed by one once. And as we disappeared, the humans began to forget us. We truly became legends, rarely sighted and mostly doubted to ever have lived."  
  
"That's so awful," commented the Pokemon trainer softly. "And now that the fantasy is gone the Darkness is mounting the attack. If we don't do something now, it will win. And we lose."  
  
Articuno blinked its crimson eyes. "You are pretty wise Gobrianna, for a human anyway." It stretched its azure wings and fanned the air, stalking to the mouth of the cave. "Come. We must leave while we have the chance."  
  
Gobrianna's heart soared. Could it be? Was it truly happening? She stumbled to her feet as the great bird of ice, silhouetted against the setting sun, turned to her and bowed low. There was no mockery in its action now. "Before we go, you might want to turn around," it suggested with mirth in its crystal voice.  
  
She obeyed and was surprised yet again. "What? But-but how?" There, in a neat row on the frozen ground, sat six gleaming Pokeballs. She picked them up and knew they were hers. Articuno chortled as she returned them to her belt.  
  
"There are many things not known about me."  
  
The human grinned. "You can say that again!" she exclaimed as she turned around, and found that Articuno was still bowed. She realized with a start that it wanted her to climb on. "Oh, but I shouldn't!" she objected.  
  
"Why not?" it inquired.  
  
"I-it's disrespectful, like talking in church."  
  
A tinkling laugh made her blush. "Hurry, Gobrianna. I have felt something building these past few days, but haven't cared until you came to me. We don't have much time," the Pokemon urged.  
  
That was enough to send the girl carefully climbing onto the back of the beautiful bird. Articuno, being larger than a full-grown Pidgeot, had no trouble with the weight of the Pokemon trainer. It glared up at the swirling snowflakes falling more heavily outside. "Can't have this, makes for an annoying flight. Not for me, of course, but I know humans are more perceptible to the cold. Can't have you falling off halfway there."  
  
Then it pointed its gray beak up at the sky and let loose with a ringing cry that sounded like a giant silver bell. It was both the most heavenly and the most teeth-grinding thing she had ever heard. Caught between a smile and a wince, she almost did almost fall off as Articuno flapped its great wings and took off with a downward thrust. Only when they were spiraling high above the earth did she notice that the clouds that had produced the snow were now completely gone. Many things indeed! 


	5. Final Showdown

The Gobrianna Trilogy Vol. III  
  
Destiny Fulfilled  
  
Chapter Five: Final Showdown  
  
By Shelli-Jo Pelletier  
  
***************  
  
Riding Articuno was unlike riding any Pokemon Gobrianna had ever had the pleasure to sit astride before. With the brisk wind blowing back her long copper hair (she had lost her hat upon takeoff) and the white land below flying by at a breathtaking speed, Gobrianna was content to marvel in the magic of the flight.  
  
It was Articuno who broke the silence first. "Soon we'll be off the island. I haven't left in decades. Where will we go?"  
  
"Uh. . . ." She hadn't thought about this. She hadn't been planning ahead at all, lately. But then again, what did she expect when running errands for vague beings who called themselves the Eight? "I haven't thought that far," she admitted. "What's your plan?"  
  
"What makes you think I have one?"  
  
"Bu-but you're the one who said we had to go. To bring fantasy back to the world. I mean, don't you know how?"  
  
A red eye swiveled back to gaze at her. "The only thing I know is that years ago I was believed in a lot more, and all I had to do was fly around a lot and let people see me."  
  
She grinned as the answer presented itself. "Of course! People will believe again if they can see you! And the other legends too! We just have to let people get glimpses of you, to remind them that the unknown still exists."  
  
Articuno nodded. "Makes sense to me, Gobrianna. So, where to?"  
  
"Fuchsia City, then. It's the closest city to the Seafoam Islands on the mainland."  
  
"Right. Hope it hasn't moved lately." Chuckling to itself, the bird of ice wheeled until they were heading north. No longer straight ahead, the golden disk just touching the ocean surface now sat to their left.  
  
Gobrianna did a double take. Ocean? Yup. What had taken her hours of painstaking labor Articuno had covered in about twenty minutes. Small dots of gray smoke drifted up from a cluster of houses along the shore they were passing over at the moment. They were too high up for Gobrianna to tell if it was the same small town where she had first come ashore, but it could have been.  
  
As her mind lingered on the commotion that must have been generated by her departure, Articuno flew on unwaveringly. Soon the Island was left behind and green water stretched on as far as the eye could see. Gobrianna was very happy to be flying above the sea and not traveling on it. If she ever went swimming again, it would be too soon.  
  
Articuno's voice startled her back to reality. "And where to after Fuchsia?" it asked conversationally. She giggled inwardly. No wonder it had continued to answer her questions even through its exasperation. The bird couldn't keep quiet for ten minutes! She wondered what it had talked to alone on that mountain all this time. Wild Pokemon?  
  
Gobrianna didn't immediately reply to its question as its words sunk in and an unexpected and unprepared for burst of emotion welled up in her. Images of her mother, old Flareon, Professor Skokie and even Adam and Tammy flashed in her mind. She blinked back tears as one word surged up her throat. "Home," she murmured huskily. "I want to go home."  
  
One of Articuno's feathery eyebrows quirked. "Home it is," it agreed without comment. There was a moment of silence as the sixteen-year-old gazed downward, watching a Gyarados surge through the waves. It would be so good to be home. She hadn't seen her mother other than on a phone screen in months, and Professor Skokie would positively swoon when she got to meet the legendary Articuno. It was a Pokemon scientist's dream-come-true. Maybe Gobrianna would stay a while. Surely her replacement at the Fantasy Gym could keep it up a few more weeks or so—  
  
Without warning the gong Articuno had called out before, to banish the snow, rang once again. This time it was less beautiful and more terrible than the other. Gobrianna clapped her hands to her head in an effort to block out the screeching sound. The Gyarados below dove. She blanched; there wasn't much in the world that could scare off a wild Gyarados. As Articuno's echoing cry bounded across the water its rider looked up, not quite able to keep a whimper escaping from her clenched throat.  
  
A mass of something was building on the horizon. It was something that Gobrianna instantly recognized, and it drove a bolt of pure terror straight into her heart. The seething black clouds piled higher and higher, the worst storm ever seen, seeming to consume the rays of the setting sun. The sky darkened.  
  
Gobrianna was frozen. She couldn't move. Fear filled every inch of her. She saw nothing but the black clouds massing on the horizon. What were they? They couldn't be the Darkness itself. Sable herself had said it couldn't come to this world. The Eight had told her the same thing time and again. And yet, her heart told that this was as close to actually being here as the Darkness could get. And if the Darkness could manifest itself like this here, it could only mean that the Eight had been defeated in battle. And that meant that she had failed. No matter what she did, no matter where she went, she couldn't escape this evil that followed her like a shadow. It wouldn't let her go. It wouldn't leave her alone! And now it would take her and. . . . She began to tremble.  
  
It took long moments for the Pokemon trainer to realize that Articuno was yelling at her, screaming in its crystal voice. "Release your Pokemon, Gobrianna!" shrieked the legendary creature in a voice of piercing ice. "Release them all! Now!"  
  
She tried, she really did, but she couldn't move. Her terror was absolute. Her hands wouldn't respond. Neither would her throat, when she tried to call to Articuno. Even though she rode on the Pokemon's back, felt its feathered body under her, in her mind she was completely alone and defenseless.  
  
Articuno seemed to understand what restrained her from acting, and was trying to help her. "Take hold of yourself, Gobrianna! Your fear is its power over you! Don't give it that control!"  
  
I'm trying! she desperately wanted to tell the Pokemon, but her voice had died away. I-I can't help it. It's too strong. I can't move, I can't think, I can't . . . I can't.  
  
The ice being tried another angle. "Don't you have faith in your Pokemon?" demanded Articuno loudly. The black clouds were swirling faster, higher. Gobrianna thought she saw vague, horrible shapes form, only to disappear in the churning.  
  
Whatever we find, whatever happens, I just want you to know that I trust you. And that I believe you can all do what needs to be done, we can do it. The words she had spoken as she stood in the back of her Gym, facing her Pokemon, returned. They burned the icy fear back somewhat. She clung to that heat, willing it to spread throughout her body and free her paralysis. With a wordless cry of effort she thrust her hands at her Pokeballs and threw them into the sky.  
  
As the six gleaming spheres plummeted toward the sea Articuno dived right along with them, snapping open its wings to hover just above the surface of the water. The brilliant white light of the balls opening filled the dark air, banishing the terror in her heart a bit more. Soon six pairs of eyes were gazing at the trainer. Charizard hovered on reptilian wings beside Articuno. Dewgong and Lapras bobbed in the green waves. Raichu used its long tail to balance on the former's smooth white back, while Arbok curled around the knobby shell of the later. Vaporeon paddled between the two larger water Pokemon. All were alert as Gobrianna silently pointed to the horizon. Their eyes followed her finger.  
  
"Char!" bellowed the fire Pokemon. The others echoed its exclamation in their own voices.  
  
Articuno cut in with a sharp, "Cuno!" Gobrianna blinked in amazement as it spoke rapidly in the Pokemon language. The six Pokemon nodded as one. It whirled on Gobrianna next. "If we're to survive this we'll need you too, human. Have you snapped out of the hold this Darkness has on you? Or will you leave your Pokemon to be destroyed without putting up a fight?"  
  
Adamant crimson eyes bore into her. The legendary creature's words touched Gobrianna, but her fear was growing as she saw black tendrils extending from the mass on the horizon, questing fingers searching the empty sky. She tore her gaze away. "What can we do?"  
  
"We can attack!" Articuno shot back at once. "With whatever weapons we have. And we can believe."  
  
A deep rumble cracked across the sky. The dark clouds were creeping forward now. Jagged bolts of back lightning shot through the mass. It was spreading fast. Soon the whole sky would be covered. And then what? Would the Darkness block the sun's rays, depriving the inhabitants of the planet the daylight they needed to live? But the Darkness didn't want to kill everyone; it only wanted to control. What was its plan?  
  
We can believe. Almost the same words she spoke to Holly.  
  
And then Gobrianna realized that it didn't matter what its plan was. She was here, with the legendary bird of ice and her six Pokemon. They were the only ones to stop this from happening. That was all that mattered. She forced her eyes to look upon the hideous thing before her. It was much closer now, moving faster than any ordinary storm could. The wind whipped her copper hair into her eyes. The black lightning bolts struck the surface of the water. The waves thrashed like angry beings. Fear coursed through her again at this sight, but she buried it deep inside her. This was not a time for emotions. "Charizard!" screamed Gobrianna, above the raging wind.  
  
The fire Pokemon swooped down until she could have jumped onto its back. She saw in her Pokemon's eyes a lost and desperate look, and she realized that perhaps for the first time in its life, Charizard was afraid.  
  
"Fire Spin," she told her oldest friend earnestly. "Fire Spin that thing when I give the signal."  
  
Charizard cast an uneasy glance at the rapidly approaching storm. "Char?" it growled uncertainly.  
  
"I don't know," she admitted. "But we have to believe it will. That's the only way we can win. Do you understand, Charizard?"  
  
The winged lizard nodded, hesitantly at first, but as it saw the determination in its trainer's eyes it soon gathered courage. It still didn't know if it could defeat this, but it trusted Gobrianna.  
  
Seeing Articuno's approving nod, the Pokemon trainer turned to the others below. "Lapras!" she shouted down, "Hydro Pump when I say!" The water Pokemon looked confident. "Raichu, Thunder!" Sparks crackled around its yellow cheek pouches. "Dewgong, Ice Beam on my mark!"  
  
"Gong!" affirmed the sea lion Pokemon.  
  
"Acid, Arbok!" A hissing reply reached up above the seething waves. "Vaporeon!" she called lastly.  
  
"Pore?" whimpered the water Pokemon, looking up at its trainer forlornly.  
  
She smiled to show it she wasn't upset. "Just do your best, Vaporeon."  
  
"Vapore!" was the ready reply.  
  
Gobrianna turned back toward the black mass. "NOW!" she screamed as loud as she could.  
  
"Chaaaaarrrr!" roared Charizard, a gigantic column of flames irrupting from its jaws.  
  
"Chuuuuuuuuuu!" Raichu's electrical attack was right behind it.  
  
"Char boka!" A blob of thick black Acid flew at the towering cloud.  
  
Lapras's intense jet of water blasted at the Darkness, and the gleaming white Ice Beam was right behind it. The two torrents shot into the black mass with the others.  
  
"Vap vap, poreon!"  
  
Gobrianna stared down in shock as another powerful blast of water pummeled the cloud. "That's . . . that's Hydro Pump! Way to go, Vaporeon!" she crowed. The little water Pokemon was pouring all its heart into its assault. And for the first time in its life it pulled off the most powerful attack of its species.  
  
Gobrianna was so focused on her own Pokemon she didn't notice the air around her growing colder, until a haze of white flickered on the edge of her vision. "Huh?"  
  
It was then that the girl felt the increased tempo of Articuno's wing beats. With each clap of its wings, the cloud of vapor now floating around them spread outward. It swirled in the cold air, reaching out just as the Darkness did. It was Articuno's Mist!  
  
Now Gobrianna turned to the Darkness. She watched the column of red- hot flames, the yellow bolts of electricity, the black globs of Acid, the two blue beams and one white one plunge into the seething black mass. The attacks hit at different places, trying to spread out, trying to stop all of the giant cloud. She strained her eyes for any reaction, heart in throat, hoping, praying. The Darkness hesitated. She held her breath.  
  
And it plunged on as surly as before.  
  
The trainer's spirits crashed to the ground as the six Chosen Pokemon broke off their attacks, confused and discouraged. Nothing stopped this thing. She stared bleakly as it towered over them all, touching the top of the sky, stretched across the horizon both to the left and right of them. Then one of the black tentacles seemed to sense the eight beings clustered below. It extended toward them like a reaching arm, slowly sprouting thin fingers. A dark shadow fell as it prepared to touch them, to grab them, to smother the life out of them or plunge them into the sea. Gobrianna didn't know for sure what was about to happen, but it didn't matter. There wasn't anything they could do now anyway.  
  
An angry caw erupted from Articuno, and the Pokemon's ghostly Mist reached out to meet the tentacle of Darkness that was almost upon them. The two insubstantial boundaries mingled, swirling, merging. Suddenly there was a shining light, like a sunbeam, gleaming from the spot where they met. Gobrianna squinted to see. The Mist and the Darkness had solidified somewhat. They were attacking each other savagely, pushing against each other, trying to gain ground like an army fighting for a battlefield.  
  
Her wide turquoise eyes were so fixed on the battle—as were the eyes of the Pokemon in the sea and air—that she failed to pay attention to the rest of the considerable amount of black clouds. No one noticed when another of the dark tendrils loomed out of the main mass close by. It shot across the open space surrounding the little group like a rubber band, curling around Gobrianna and plucking her right off the ice Pokemon's back!  
  
The girl screamed as the tendril of cloud took hold of her. It didn't feel cloud-like. It felt cold and slimy, like a Tentacruel.  
  
A bellowing roar answered her outcry, and she saw an orange comet streaking toward her. "Charizard! No!" she cried, instantly terrified for her Pokemon. If the Darkness knocked the fire Pokemon out of the sky it would fall into the ocean. . . .  
  
But the winged lizard's course didn't waver. The tendril holding her in its grasp tightened, crushing the air out of her lungs. She gasped, struggling to draw breath. Ignoring the intense pain, she began to squirm. Maybe it was slimy enough for her to slip out.  
  
Charizard zoomed into range swiftly. Suddenly there was fire all around Gobrianna. She flinched, knowing Charizard would never hurt her intentionally but unable to stop the involuntary action. The flames danced and crackled in the air without touching her. She shut her eyes against the heat and light. Her fire Pokemon let loose with another howl that made her teeth clench. She heard so many things in that sound. It spoke of fury, that someone would dare hurt the person it cared about. It spoke of pain, the fear of losing a loved-one. Determination, that nothing would stand in its way. And Gobrianna wasn't afraid anymore.  
  
The pressure around her chest unexpectedly eased, and she blinked in surprise. Life-giving air filled her lungs and a surge of confidence swelled. The coils slackened more; she writhed in its grasp. It didn't matter to her that she was suspended high above the ocean's surface. With her winged Pokemon and the legendary bird of ice in the air she knew she would never hit the water.  
  
Finally she slipped out of the tendril's grasp. Charizard cut off its flames as she was freed. For a sickening moment she was dropping like a rock, her five Pokemon gazing up from below in shock and horror. Then a brilliant blur swooped down from above and under her. She hit Articuno's back with a gentle thump, instantly clutching at the cyan feathers.  
  
"Welcome back!" called the bird. "Try to stay on this time."  
  
She grinned. "It's good to see you too." The Pokemon chortled. Then its avian face sobered. It gave another of its ringing cries, soaring up to reengage the enemy. The white Mist had faded somewhat, because Articuno had to stop its attack to rescue her Gobrianna guessed. The dark tentacle was attempting to thrust itself forward again, but the ice bird wasn't about to let up now. Its wings beat aggressively, the Mist strengthened, and again that part of the storm cloud was stopped.  
  
"It's working," whispered the girl to herself. Then louder, "It's working!" She twisted around on Articuno's back, searching the sky. A bright flash of orange caught her eye. Charizard was darting and weaving through the air, avoiding the Darkness as it thrust bits of itself at the fire Pokemon. When it got the chance the winged lizard replied with a blast of flame. "This way, Charizard!" she called, waving her arm above her head. The Pokemon veered in her direction, and the Mist kept the Darkness from following.  
  
Charizard fell in beside Articuno. "Zard char?" it rumbled at its trainer.  
  
"Look, Charizard, look." She pointed at the white barrier. "Articuno's Mist is stopping it. Pokemon attacks do work! We have to try again!"  
  
Charizard didn't hesitate. "CHAAARRRRR!" it roared, a spiraling funnel of fire exploding from its jaws. Avoiding the spot where the Mist was holding back the Darkness, it instead concentrated its assault to one side, where more tendrils were attempting to creep around the ghostly white cloud.  
  
Now Gobrianna looked to the rest of her Pokemon. They were still bobbing in the thrashing waves, Arbok and Raichu looking a little worse for wear, but each holding their own. She cupped her hands around her mouth to reach them over the sounds of the two battling fliers. "We can't give up hope yet! You have to try again . . . I believe you can! Remember what we're fighting for, and go!"  
  
Her Pokemon answered, and it was five cries of resolution that rose to her ears as five attacks streaked up at the looming oppressor. Gobrianna turned to stare at the Darkness with pride burning in her, sensing that this was the final showdown. One side was going to walk away from this fight, and she told herself emphatically that it wasn't going to be the Darkness.  
  
I'm not going to let you win! she thought with all her heart. We are strong together, because we believe in each other. And ourselves. We won't back down! We! Won't! Let! You! Win!  
  
A blast of thunder pealed. Black lightning crackled across the surface of the mass of angry clouds. She stared harder, until her eyes blurred with tears, refusing to blink or look away. And she saw . . . was she just imagining it? Were her eyes playing tricks? No, it was really happening. The Darkness was shrinking!  
  
Gobrianna pumped her fist into the air. "That's it! Go on! Leave us alone! We don't need you! You can't have us! LEAVE!" She didn't even realize she was yelling these things, a broad smile beaming from her face. Cries and shrieks of triumph echoed in the air around her. Charizard bellowed a deafening roar. Articuno gave its crystal scream, but this was a cry of pure exuberance. Below the other five Pokemon were cheering and celebrating. The eight beings watched as the creature of shadow before them withdrew into itself, becoming smaller and smaller, until eventually it was nothing but a tiny handful of murky haze. With a final screech from the legendary bird of ice, it whirled and constricted, disappearing with a last crackle of lighting, as if it had never been.  
  
The human girl laughed out loud, just for the pure joy of hearing her own voice. She was alive! They were alive! And they had won!  
  
Charizard was grinning. It stretched its dark wings wide, spiraling around her and Articuno, doing a loop-the-loop in the air. Gobrianna whispered something in the bird's ear and it chuckled, swooping down close to the water. She slid from its back into the cold water, and she didn't even care. The cold bit sharply through her clothes, but so what? She was alive to feel it! Suddenly the water under her churned, and Lapras rose up out of the depths so that she was astride its great neck. Gobrianna laughed, hugging her Pokemon. "I'm glad you're okay," she told it sincerely, then turning to the others. "I'm glad you're all okay. We did it!"  
  
"Boka," hissed an irked voice behind her, and she turned around and giggled. Poor Arbok was soaked and sputtering from the submerging it just got, but it smiled with its fang-filled jaws as she threw her arms around its scaly body.  
  
"My clever little Arbok," she grinned up at it, and the poison snake couldn't help but hiss with pleasure.  
  
Then Dewgong and Vaporeon were paddling around them, Raichu on the sea lion's back with paws outstretched as if it were surfing. The Eevee evolution yipped happily, spanking the water with its paws and splashing everyone. Its fish-like tail thrashed, sending a wave of water over Lapras' back. Arbok glared. Gobrianna laughed.  
  
A trill from above made her head snap up, the laughter still on her face. Articuno was smirking down at them. Charizard hovered above the bird, staying away from the water but for once in its life looking like it wanted to join them. "I share the sentiment, I really do, but don't you think we had better get going?" the blue avian pointed out.  
  
The Pokemon trainer's eyes traveled beyond the two flying creatures, and she realized with a start that it was the dead of night. The cloudless sky was bedazzled with billions of points of crystal light, the bright stars shining and the milky way cutting a ribbon of pale white across the night sky. A full moon shone down on them, and adding the glow from Charizard's tail, there was plenty of light to see by. Gobrianna hadn't even noticed. Had they really been battling so long? She remembered the setting sun, but after that the Darkness had arisen, and she had stopped paying attention to the time.  
  
"I guess we should," she chuckled, sharing a look with each of her friends. "I take it none of you want to return to your Pokeballs?"  
  
She got an instantaneous response.  
  
"Okay, okay! Then let's head north, Lapras. We can try to reach Fuchsia City by dawn."  
  
Lapras nodded its large head, setting out with steady strokes of its flippers. Arbok curled its coils tighter around the knobby shell. Vaporeon splashed off to one side of the gentle ferry, while Dewgong plowed through the waves on its other flank. Above, Articuno and Charizard cut across the sky with powerful beats of their wings. The moon shone down, coloring the sea silver, as the band traveled across the shining waves. A bubble of contentment, satisfaction and peace encased them all. It was a great night to be alive.  
  
* * *  
  
Tears sprang to Gobrianna's eyes, blurring the vision of the eight great shining beings around her. She had almost forgotten how strange they were, how majestic. How they stood still as statues as if the laws of physics were beneath them. "I thought . . . I thought you were dead," she whispered huskily, blinking hard. "I thought the Darkness had . . . had done something—"  
  
"Peace, Chosen," the multi-voice spoke, silencing her. "There was no need to cause yourself such pain. The Darkness is defeated. You have won."  
  
"But why didn't you call me sooner?" she cried, remembering all the sleepless nights she had experienced since the battle. It had been almost two weeks now. "I was so afraid." Charizard, standing beside her, wrapped one wing around her shoulders, to comfort.  
  
The silver dragon and unicorn before her bowed their heads in unison. "For that we apologize. The Darkness' attack left us too weak to even defend ourselves, much less contact you. Indeed, if the Darkness had not fled to stop you when it did, it would have soon defeated us. And so you have saved us in more ways than one, our Chosen."  
  
She wiped her face with one hand. "It's okay. Just . . . frightening. I went through so much. I was afraid it was all for nothing."  
  
Sparkling laughter twinkled around her, something she had never before seen while with the Eight. It was a booming sound, but somehow light and airy as well. It floated around her like fireflies, tiny points of light that flashed and glittered. Gobrianna watched in awe as the Eight managed to speak through their mirth. "For nothing, Chosen? For everything! You have won back your world. You have returned fantasy."  
  
An image flashed in her mind. Seven Pokemon stood on the shore of a swarming beach, just as the sun came up over the land. People gathered all around. Questions shot out rapidly. They stared at the brilliant cerulean bird in their midst, poised serenely. Then a copper-haired girl climbed down from one of the Pokemon. They saw the fire in her eyes and begged her story. And she told them. The memory faded.  
  
"Is it true, then? Is the Darkness gone for good?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"Nothing is truly gone forever," they told her, serious once more. "And the Darkness is as we are. For us to die there must be no beings left on your world who believe in us. As long as there are believers, we exist." Seeing her crestfallen look, they explained further. "Do not misunderstand, Chosen. The Darkness needed to be defeated. It was growing too powerful; it had disrupted the balance that exists between us all. If we had not readied a Chosen one to defend us, we would have lost this conflict."  
  
She smiled at that. It was over. She had won. Two weeks later and it still amazed her. But the smile faded. "There's something you're not telling me." She didn't know how she knew, she just did.  
  
The fire and water eyes of the dragon and the unicorn traveled above her head, conversing with the other great beings. When they returned to her she knew that the Eight had something meaningful to tell her. "We acknowledge that we have contacted you for a reason. And we cannot keep it from you any longer. This is the last time we will appear to you."  
  
The Pokemon trainer shook her head, bewildered, as if she hadn't heard correctly. "What? I don't—what do you mean? Why?" Charizard, whom she had almost forgotten about, gave an uneasy snort. She touched its shoulder with one hand, the other gripping the silver necklace around her neck, as she waited for the Eight to respond.  
  
And they did. "It is time, our Chosen. Time for you to stop living the life of one of bares the weight of her world on her shoulders. Time to start being a normal human, with a normal existence. Time for you to forget us."  
  
"No," she objected in a whisper, knowing they meant their words literally. "I could never forget you. I can't live a normal life now, not after what I've seen, what I've done." Her voice rose. "Please, don't make me forget you. You're . . . too beautiful to forget."  
  
A soundless, motionless sigh reverberated in the darkness of the beings' realm. It was a sound of relent. "Very well, Chosen. You have aided us too well to deny you this. You may remember. Remember for the rest of your days that once, in your youth, you saved your world from the Darkness. Keep our gift in memory."  
  
The medallion in the shape of a starburst felt warm in her hand, but it didn't compare to the heat that flushed her face. Gobrianna lowered her eyes from the dragon and the unicorn before her. "I don't deserve it," she told them frankly as she remembered something else. "I lost the staff. It's somewhere in the ocean. I'm . . . I'm sorry."  
  
Again humor was present in their voice. "Did you never consider that, perhaps, this was something that was meant to be?"  
  
She looked up, startled. "Meant to be? Do you mean it?"  
  
"Indeed. As we know you have thought of before, the being of ice you brought to light is by no means the only creature that exists in your legends." She nodded. This was another thing she had pondered during her long, sleepless nights. "But it is no longer your destiny to reveal the other legends. You have started the chain, you have brought the first—the most difficult—out of its seclusion. And you have led others to believe again. They will follow now, because of you." As the words echoed in the still air, more images flooded her mind, bubbles of pictures that came and went rapidly.  
  
Bubble: dancing, flickering flames, surrounding a creature that flashed with the light of fire as it flapped its blazing wings. Bubble: yellow streaks of electricity split the air like miniature lightning bolts. Suddenly a long, needle-like beak thrust itself through the sparks. Bubble: a rainbow stretched across the sky. It was far away, but she could make out a flash of pure gold flying over the bands of color. Bubble: a lavender eye opened wide, staring. In that eye was pain and fury so deep she could hardly comprehend it. Bubble: another eye, this one a deep blue, and somehow filled with both innocence and a fathomless wisdom at once. There were others, but the floated up in her mind and burst, leaving her with only fleeting images and impressions. Moved, Gobrianna refocused her turquoise gaze on the shining Eight.  
  
"But what about the staff?" she asked. "What will happen to it now?"  
  
"We believe you mean, what is happening now," they corrected her. "If you wish, we will show you."  
  
The girl hesitated, remembering what had happened the last time that they had done something like this. But finally she swallowed and nodded. She wanted to know.  
  
As had happened once before, years ago, the air between her and Charizard and the dragon and the unicorn wavered, as if the heat of summer was around them. The rippling air flowed toward her, and she braced herself for what was coming. As it hit her so did the recognized feeling of being swamped, filled beyond capacity. She managed to hold back a cry as consciousness faded. Charizard leaped and caught her, rumbling with mixed emotions as she was taken away.  
  
* * *  
  
The sound of the surf breaking against the shore invaded Gobrianna's awareness. She felt the cool air, salty, against her body. Or to be more specific, the body of whatever Pokemon she inhabited. Her eyes opened, though she didn't open them of her own accord. A landscape painted in bleached-out whites and grays developed around her. She was at the beach, and the shore was more made up of rocks than sand. To either side of her sharp stones rose high above her, and she realized she was crouched in a tiny crevice. And it was human voices that had woken her up.  
  
"That was a really stupid thing to do!" a sharp female voice cut above the natural sounds of the environment. The scene was slowly revealed sideways as the Pokemon crawled out of its little niche in the rocks. It was hard to make out with the creature's level of vision, but it seemed to Gobrianna that there were two humans standing over a third, who sat on one of the flatter rocks, holding his or her leg.  
  
"I didn't mean to!" objected the one sitting down. "I was trying to catch that sleeping Krabby!" With a start she saw he was pointing straight at her. "Well, it's not asleep any more," he amended.  
  
The standing girl snorted inelegantly. "Then you should have been watching where you were going. These rocks are slippery. Besides, didn't you already catch a Krabby?"  
  
"I wanted another one," the boy defended himself. He tried to stand, and Gobrianna suddenly wondered if she was going to experience what it was like to be inside a Pokeball, but before he could regain his footing he groaned and sank back to the rock. "I think I twisted it," he muttered.  
  
"Pika pi?" A small something appeared, scampering up to the boy with concern in its voice.  
  
"Aw, I'm okay, Pikachu," he replied, patting the electric Pokemon on the head.  
  
Meanwhile, the second of the standing pair had moved off down the beach, and the Krabby kept one eye on him or her warily. While the girl and the boy continued to argue, the third member of the party neared the crashing waves, bent down amid the rocks, and pulled something free. "Here, you can use this piece of driftwood until we get to the next town," he announced, returning to his friends.  
  
Gobrianna would have recognized that object no matter what body she was in. As the tall boy handed over the six-foot pole, in her mind she could see the staff as it had always appeared to her, topped with a gleaming amethyst and six small opals. Nobody in the entire world saw it for what it really was other than herself. But she knew that even if the possessor of that staff didn't know what it was, fantasy would follow them.  
  
It would be used a common stick of wood, probably discarded when these people reached their destination, possibly picked up by someone else after that. And so the cycle had begun.  
  
The sitting boy thanked the other, testing the strength of the stick as he levered himself to his feet. When he looked about to go after the Krabby again, both the girl and the tall boy put their hands on his shoulders.  
  
"Let it go," the girl advised, not nearly so snide as before. "You're in no condition to go chasing after a Krabby all over these wet rocks."  
  
The Pikachu nodded. "Pika pika," it agreed. There was the shrill sound of a laughing baby Pokemon, but she didn't recognize what species it was.  
  
However, the wild Krabby Gobrianna was seeing through wasn't taking any chances. It scuttled to the side, disappearing into the rocks that were its home once again.  
  
She heard the boy sigh. "I guess you're right. Okay, let's get going." The group of five walked away, and she felt satisfaction well up inside her. The staff would go on. The search for the legends would go on. Fantasy would remain in the world.  
  
* * *  
  
Gobrianna eased open her eyes slowly, focusing on the face of Charizard that was hovering over her. She smiled her appreciation as it gently helped her to stand on her own. The sixteen-year-old looked to the dragon and the unicorn before her.  
  
"I have seen what has happened to the staff, and I thank you for showing me. Are you sure this is . . . as it is suppose to be?"  
  
The silver dragon and unicorn seemed to smile, though they remained motionless. "We are sure," they replied benignly.  
  
The Pokemon trainer bowed her head. "Then I will say my farewells. I can't express what a joy, what an honor, it has been to do this service for you and for my world. Thank you. Thank you all." When she picked her head up she was surprised to find the two beings before her on their knees, bowing to her in a gesture of homage. It made a queer feeling flutter through her, to know these creatures of immense power were bending to her.  
  
"And we, in return, extend our thanks to you, Chosen one," they boomed reverently. "And to the Chosen of the Pokemon who have supported you throughout your journey. May fantasy lead you through a good life, and always remember that you have our touch upon you."  
  
And as Gobrianna and Charizard stared, the Eight mythical beings began to glow. Always before, at the end of their meetings, the Eight had faded away as if they had not the strength to remain one moment more. But this time, as if proving all that she had accomplished, they continued to grow brighter and brighter. Soon the girl could no longer distinguish the individual creatures in her sight. The dragon, the unicorn, the wyvern, the winged horse, the phoenix, the gryphon, the winged lion and the giant wolf faded away as the blazing silver light filled Gobrianna's vision, until it was all she could see.  
  
"Good-bye, Gobrianna." The voice was still the multi-voice of the immense beings, but it whispered softly in her ear. "Good-bye."  
  
* * *  
  
There was a loud, annoying voice penetrating the girl's consciousness, and she moaned and rolled over to get away, pulling the blankets over her head to muffle the sound. It did her no good. She was plucked up out of unconsciousness and the voice sharpened into individual words, jarring against her senses.  
  
"—Phone call, phone call! Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!"  
  
"Murph," mumbled Gobrianna into her pillow, slowly picking up her head. Her copper hair streamed down around her face, a curtain through which the blaring noise had no trouble penetrating. Brushing aside enough strands to peer through with blurry eyes, she made out the image of a little Rattata, holding a sign with a picture of a telephone receiver, leaping across the screen next to her bed. Muttering darkly, she reached over and hit the phone button.  
  
Blu's puckish face sprang up on the screen, grinning impishly. "Why good morning, Bri!" she sang out cheerfully.  
  
". . . . Buh. . . ?" she managed, blinking a little. "A-aren't you up a little early?"  
  
"It's almost noon!" countered the sapphire-haired girl.  
  
"Uh huh. Whaddya want?"  
  
Blu's eyebrow rose above her shades. "All right, I'll cut to the chase. Guess who just attempted to pass your Gym?"  
  
Gobrianna knew she should know what Blu was talking about, but at the moment it escaped her. "Who?"  
  
"None other than Daniel!"  
  
Gobrianna blinked some more. It did nothing to clear the fog that had seemed to settle around her brain. "Uh huh. Did he pass?"  
  
"Nope!" the other girl answered. Her grin took on a wolfish tone. "When I told him where you were he said he was going to try again when you get back. He's waiting for you. And just so you know, he's got a Fearow that packs a mighty wallop and a Venusaur that knows Solar Beam. Your Pokemon handled him once, but your temp almost conceded. So heads up when you get back."  
  
Gobrianna absorbed the information stoically. "Uh huh," she said for the third time. "Blu, I'll see you when I get back. I think I'm heading out in a day or two."  
  
Blu knew when to take a hint. "Sure. See ya than!" And the face disappeared from the screen.  
  
Gobrianna rubbed her eyes as she stumbled out of bed, automatically touching the silver gleam hanging around her neck. She remembered with some irony that six years ago, when she had first started her Pokemon journey, she had never planned on collecting badges. Much less owning a Gym. But destiny had called, and you just don't ignore something like that.  
  
Taking a look in the carved mirror hanging on the wall, she mumbled one word: "Shower." The girl grabbed up the closest set of clean clothes she could find and headed out of her room.  
  
"Char," greeted her fire Pokemon, nuzzling her affectionately as she stepped out of the room. She patted the silver spot on its nose and it followed her down the hall.  
  
The kitchen was on the way to the bathroom. As she ducked her head in to see if her mother was there, she found both the auburn-haired woman with her old Flareon asleep on the floor and a person with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, who was sitting at the table and sipping coffee. Her mother noticed her first.  
  
"Ah, you're awake, dear!" she exclaimed with a tender smile. "I see you're heading for the shower. I'll have lunch ready by the time you get back."  
  
"Good morning, Gobrianna," the woman at the table spoke up. Gobrianna smiled fuzzily. She wasn't quite fully awake yet, but she recognized the woman who had been coming over almost every day for the past two weeks.  
  
"Hey Professor Skokie. I'll be back in a bit."  
  
The sixteen-year-old turned and once again headed toward the bathroom. A true smile lit up her face, chasing away the worry that had been etched there lately. All was right again. She had won. And while she had no clue what she was going to do with the rest of her life now that her destiny was fulfilled, she had no doubt it would be interesting to find out.  
  
It was a very happy girl who entered the bathroom of that little house that day. 


End file.
